Hello All,
Today seems to be kind of an environmental day, as I have two articles about animals, and one about broccoli sprouts. The first animal article is about some rare frogs that had not been born in New Zeeland for many years, and finally hatched froglets. The second is about one man's effort to preserve six endangered species of turtles in Mexico. The third article, is about how broccolli sprouts may help reduce bladder cancer.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy all of the articles I found for you today. :) See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Cuba Signs Human Rights Pledges (BBC)
2. Google Gives Homeless Free Voicemail (Times of India)
3. Precious Froglets Arrive in Time for Leap Year (Scoop News NZ)
4. Extract of Broccoli Sprouts May Protect Against Bladder Cancer (Science Daily)
5. Vigilante Safeguards Oaxaca's Sea Turtles (NPR)
Honorable Mentions:
1. 'Hope is Back' for Kenya (CNN)
2. Woman Wins $80 Million After Buying First Lottery Ticket (Fox News)
1. Cuba Signs Human Rights Pledges
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7270179.stm
Thursday, 28 February 2008, 22:44 GMT
Cuba has signed two legally binding human rights agreements at the UN in New York, just days after Raul Castro was sworn in as the new president. The covenants - part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - commit Cuba to freedom of expression and association, and the right to travel.
Critics of the Castro government have called on it to make good on the agreements by freeing dissidents.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, who signed the agreements, rejected suggestions of any link to the recent change in power, insisting they merely "formalised" rights enjoyed by Cuban citizens since the 1959 revolution.
Last December, Mr Roque announced his country's intention to sign up to the two agreements, saying Cuba would allow scrutiny by the recently established UN Human Rights Council in 2009.
Raul Castro took over power on Sunday
One is a covenant on civil and political rights, and the other concerns social, economic and cultural rights.
Previously, Cuba had resisted scrutiny by the UN Human Rights Commission - the predecessor of the Human Rights Council - accusing it of pro-US bias.
It is believed that at least 200 political prisoners are currently being held in Cuba.
Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York called on Cuba to follow up its signing of the covenants and "immediately and unconditionally release the 22 independent journalists currently imprisoned for their work". "The failure to do so would render its adoption of this important treaty [the UN Bill of Human Rights] meaningless," he added.
Cuban trade unionist Pedro Alvarez and three other Cuban political prisoners were released on health grounds earlier this month, and flown to Spain. The 60-year-old said that the Cuban authorities had given him the choice to remain in prison or go into exile.
2. Google Gives Homeless Free Voicemail
February 29, 2008 11:42am
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23296129-38198,00.html
INTERNET giant Google is giving homeless people a free phone number and voicemail to help them get back on their feet.
Google has promised to provide the life-long services to San Francisco's entire homeless population to help them get a job and build self-esteem. Senior project manager at Google Craig Walker said the free services could one day be rolled out across the US, allowing every homeless person to list their own number on job applications.
“We're firm believers in the power of technology to improve the daily lives of individuals and communities as a whole, and we recognise that access to phone and voicemail services is one way (to) help San Francisco's homeless stay connected with family, friends, social workers, health care providers, and potential employers,” Mr Walker said. “While we're excited to bring this technology to our local Bay Area community, our ultimate goal is to provide these invaluable services to cities and shelters across the country.”
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the project would change the way the homeless see society, msnbc.com reported. “How do you communicate as a homeless individual?” Mr Newsom said. “How do you expect your life to turn around if you can't even get information or if someone can't even get in touch with you?”
A man who used to be homeless told msnbc.com the project was a great way to help raise self-esteem. "Having your family, friends and loved ones being able to say ‘I'm thinking about you, I love you, I want you to know you're mine, and I miss you,' can have a monumental change in one's behaviour,” the man said.
3. Precious Froglets Arrive in Time for Leap Year
Friday, 29 February 2008, 9:49 amPress Release: Victoria University of Wellington
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0802/S00064.htm
What looks at first to be a slimy mess in a Petri dish represents a highly-significant advance in conservation and restoration ecology.
Ecologists from both the Sanctuary and Victoria are celebrating the arrival of the first Maud Island frogs (Leiopelma pakeka) to hatch on mainland New Zealand for many years. Clustered together to conserve moisture, the 13 fingernail-sized froglets in the photograph (visit website) were recently transferred from the Karori Sanctuary to Victoria University where they will be incubated and later released as young frogs.
No larger than a human adult’s little fingernail, the Maud Island froglets differ from most frog species in that they hatch from the egg as fully-formed froglets without going through the usual tadpole stage. 13 froglets in total were found during a recent audit of a specially-constructed frog research enclosure at Karori Sanctuary.
“Sixty frogs were released into the special mouse-proof enclosure in 2006 in an effort to re-establish this highly-endangered species on the mainland,” Victoria Master's student Kerri Lukis says. Ms Lukis is studying the Sanctuary population for her Master's thesis under the supervision of Associate Professor Ben Bell, Director of the University's Centre for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration.
She says that thirty of frogs released in 2006 were later released outside of the enclosure so that the captive and wild populations could be compared. When it came time to find the frogs again to see how many frogs had survived and whether they had bred she was delighted to find the 13 froglets attached to adult males.
"This is extra special because Maud Island frogs have never been found breeding in their natural habitat before, and certainly not on the mainland.
"It's wonderful timing for 2008 - international Year of the Frog – and a Leap Year. It’s rare to get a ‘good news’ story about frogs – every year around 35 species of frog become extinct and two of New Zealand’s remaining native frog species are on the critical list."
While not the rarest species, the thimble-sized Maud Island frogs are nationally threatened. Like all of New Zealand’s native frog species, they are endemic (found only here) and belong to the endemic genus Leiopelma.
They have evolved very little over the last 70 million years, resulting in some very distinctive features and behaviours. For example, they don’t croak, live in water, have webbed feet, or go through a tadpole stage.
Associate Professor Ben Bell says the University and the Sanctuary have worked closely together on this project.
“It is good to know that the Karori Sanctuary frogs are able to breed in an enclosure there. Whether those frogs released into the wild in Karori survived and bred is less certain at present.”
FROG FACTS
Frogs are regarded by scientists as environmental bio-monitors. They are particularly sensitive to changes in their environment and, as such, can be an early warning of environmental threats. However, this often means they are one of the first groups to die out when their environment changes.
Major causes of extinction/declining populations are: Loss/fragmentation of habitat; environmental pollutants; diseases (especially chytird fungus), and introduced predators.
Because New Zealand’s frogs evolved in isolation, and in an environment free of predatory mammals, they have been especially susceptible to introduced predators, the colonisation of non-native frogs, and the diseases they brought with them. Of the seven known species of endemic NZ frog, only four have survived into the 21st Century.
Maud Island frogs (Leiopelma pakeka) are one of only four surviving native frog species. All are nationally threatened, with the rarest, Hamilton’s frog (Leiopelma hamiltoni), numbering less than 300. All of New Zealand’s native frog species are endemic and belong to the genus Leiopelma. They have evolved very little over the last 70 million years, resulting in some very distinctive features and behaviours:
They don’t croak but can make ‘chirping’ sounds
They have round eye pupils (not slits)
They have no external eardrums but can sense vibrations
They don’t have webbed feet
They are nocturnal
They live on land in shady, moist forested areas or ridge tops
They don’t have a free tadpole stage – eggs are laid under rocks or logs and in most species the male sits over the eggs until they hatch as well formed, tailed froglets
They eat a variety of insects and spiders and catch their prey by grabbing it with their mouth (they don’t flick their tongues out)
They can live for more than 30 years.
4. Extract of Broccoli Sprouts May Protect Against Bladder Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228080546.htm
ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2008)
— A concentrated extract of freeze dried broccoli sprouts cut development of bladder tumors in an animal model by more than half, according to a report in the March 1 issue of Cancer Research.
This finding reinforces human epidemiologic studies that have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer, according to the study's senior investigator, Yuesheng Zhang, MD, PhD, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. "Although this is an animal study, it provides potent evidence that eating vegetables is beneficial in bladder cancer prevention," he said.
There is strong evidence that the protective action of cruciferous vegetables derives at least in part from isothyiocyanates (ITCs), a group of phytochemicals with well-known cancer preventive activities."The bladder is particularly responsive to this group of natural chemicals," Zhang said. "In our experiments, the broccoli sprout ITCs after oral administration were selectively delivered to the bladder tissues through urinary excretion."
Other cruciferous vegetables with ITCs include mature broccoli, cabbage, kale, collard greens and others. Broccoli sprouts have approximately 30 times more ITCs than mature broccoli, and the sprout extract used by the researchers contains approximately 600 times as much.
Although animals that had the most protection against development of bladder cancer were given high doses of the extract, Zhang said humans at increased risk for this cancer likely do not need to eat huge amounts of broccoli sprouts in order to derive protective benefits.
"Epidemiologic studies have shown that dietary ITCs and cruciferous vegetable intake are inversely associated with bladder cancer risk in humans. It is possible that ITC doses much lower than those given to the rats in this study may be adequate for bladder cancer prevention," he said.
Zhang and his colleagues tested the ability of the concentrate to prevent bladder tumors in five groups of rats. The first group acted as a control, while the second group was given only the broccoli extract to test for safety. The remaining three groups were given a chemical, N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) in drinking water, which induces bladder cancer. Two of these groups were given the broccoli extract in diet, beginning two weeks before the carcinogenic chemical was delivered.
In the control group and the group given only the extract, no tumors developed, and there was no toxicity from the extract in the rats.
About 96 percent of animals given only BBN developed an average of almost two tumors each of varying sizes. By comparison, about 74 percent of animals given a low dose of the extract developed cancer, and the number of tumors per rat was 1.39. The group given the high dose of extract had even fewer tumors. About 38 percent of this high-dose group developed cancer, and the average number of tumors per animal was only .46 and, unlike the other animals, the majority were very small in size.
The study was funded by the Vital Vegetables Research Program of Australia and New Zealand, the National Cancer Institute and the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.
5. Vigilante Safeguards Oaxaca's Sea Turtles
by Marina Giovannelli
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18481696
Day to Day, February 29, 2008 ·
Local appetite, along with international demand for turtle meat, eggs and skin, have landed Mexico's six species of marine turtles on the country's endangered species list.
But endangered sea turtles are making a comeback in Oaxaca, a state at the southern tip of Mexico's Pacific coast. Turtle-nesting on one of Oaxaca's beaches is surging, up from 55,000 turtles nesting in 1988 to more than 1 million in 2003.
Laws have helped, and so have the efforts of local veterinarian Marcelino Lopez Reyes. Reyes, 48, is a veterinarian by day and a turtle vigilante by night. He sleeps on the beach, guarding turtle nests against poachers. But there's no guarantee the eggs are safe.
One busy night during nesting season, Reyes and his two helpers left the turtle nests unguarded. When Reyes returned on his all-terrain vehicle, he was outraged. "I came back and, you know what, they had stolen six nests. People that know us, that know we're here. They saw that one ATV left, then the other ATV left, and they came and took the eggs," Reyes says. The poachers stole about 600 eggs. They will probably be sold on the street or in a cantina for about three U.S. dollars per dozen.
Poachers are constantly on the prowl, and so is Reyes. He rides a shiny-red ATV along the ocean's edge, headlights blearing into the night, looking for nests. Reyes finds an olive ridley turtle laying her eggs. She's huge, weighing about 100 pounds. Olive ridley turtles also live and breed along Africa, India and Indonesia's coasts. They return to the same beaches where they were born to lay their own eggs. This turtle's eyes are wet and teary and she grunts with effort.
Reyes counts the eggs, taking them from the nest and placing them in a plastic bag. She's laid more than 100 eggs, and Reyes hurries back to his camp where he keeps the eggs safe. Log posts and mesh wire enclose about 6,000 turtle eggs in the camp.
Reyes digs a hole about 100 feet from the water. When it's deep enough, he lowers in the plastic bag, gently empties the eggs, covers them with sand and marks the new nest.
Reyes also protects turtles from natural predators. Once he found an injured turtle during a morning patrol.
"It was a big turtle. It went up onto the beach and a dog attacked it. It got the turtle's jugular, it turned around and around, and it bleed to death," Reyes says.
Reyes extracted about 50 eggs from the turtle's belly. When they hatched, he took the turtles to the nearby government-sponsored Mexican Turtle Center. That's where he works during the day as a veterinarian.
The Mexican Turtle Center is located near the old turtle slaughterhouse known as Mazunte. The center's staff found the best protection for turtles is to create alternative employment for their human predators. Everardo Ramirez is a turtle hunter turned tourist guide.
"Yes, we used to hunt turtles. Each boat would get 60 turtles per day, from 6 a.m. to noon. We would sell them to Mazunte," Ramirez says. Now instead of hunting them, Ramirez uses them to lure tourists.
"It's better for me now," Ramirez says. "Now I protect them, don't kill them. I take tourists to see nature and to see prehistoric animals. People end up happy, and so do I because I earn some money."
Poaching turtle eggs can land a person in federal prison, leaving Mexicans like Esteban de la Cruz savoring a memory.
"You make a small hole, put lemon and chili, and it is delicious. That's one of our pre-Hispanic dishes — before the Spanish arrived, our people would eat them," he says of the technique for eating the eggs.
And he says they're not only tasty, but considered an aphrodisiac — a claim that dies hard in the world of Mexican machismo.
Honorable Mentions:
'Hope is back' for Kenya
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/29/us.kenya.ap/index.html?iref=24hours
Updated 3 hours 52 minutes ago (current time 3:02 pm EST)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Representatives on Friday began working out details of a power-sharing agreement aimed at ending two months of ethnic violence that killed more than 1,000 people after a disputed presidential election.
Kenya's feuding politicians shook hands Thursday and smiled for the cameras. But the real test for President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga is whether the reluctant partners can work together to heal a divided nation.
Under the agreement, Odinga will become prime minister and have the power to "coordinate and supervise" the government -- more authority than Kibaki wanted to yield.
The bitterness between them runs deep, however, and both men have traded accusations about inciting violence, stealing the December 27 vote, and destroying the nation.
Kofi Annan, the mediator, had to prompt them to shake hands Thursday as the cameras rolled. Still, a deal was signed, and about 500 people marched in celebration Friday in the western town of Kitale. "Finally hope is back, Kenya has been reborn and it is like we are ushering in a new year!" shouted a marcher waving a picture of Odinga.
It was unclear when Odinga would take over as prime minister. Kibaki said he is reconvening parliament next Thursday to begin work on the needed constitutional changes. Representatives for the two sides were meeting Friday to work out details and start hashing out some of the longer term reforms.
"I expect us to fast-track it so that the country can get on its feet," government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo said.
Kibaki and Odinga must try to repair the lives of more than a half-million people who have been displaced from their homes and require food, water and medical care. Kenya's Red Cross says it knows of at least 500 youngsters who were separated from their families.
There is also the matter of restoring one of Africa's most promising economies. Kenya, one of the most prosperous and tourist-friendly countries in Africa, has seen up to $1 billion in losses linked to the turmoil.
But the most difficult task may be restoring Kenyans' trust in their government.
Much of the bloodshed pitted ethnic groups, such as Odinga's Luo tribe, against Kibaki's Kikuyu people, long resented for their domination of the economy and politics. Politicians have been accused of fomenting violence -- now the uneasy coalition will have to work together to disarm militia groups.
In many regions, the violence broke apart cities and towns where Kenyans had lived together -- however uneasily at times -- since independence from Britain in 1963.
The worst of the violence subsided weeks ago. Still, there were reminders as recently as Thursday of previous chaos. Police fired tear gas to disperse dozens who had gathered outside Kibaki's office to witness the signing.
Thursday's agreement came after mounting pressure from leaders in Africa and beyond, including the United States, which issued veiled threats about its future relationship with Kenya's leaders.
"The Kenyan coalition government and people can count on our support as they move forward to implement the agreement and reform agenda," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement welcoming the power-sharing deal.
European Union the humanitarian chief Louis Michel said Kibaki and Odinga "have shown the wisdom and vision to choose the path of compromise and reconciliation." Both the EU and the United States had said previously that they were reviewing their international aid to Kenya because of the crisis. "This power-sharing deal means that once again Kenya is back on a path of peace and mutual understanding," Michel said.
Woman Wins $80 Million After Buying First Lottery Ticket
Friday, February 29, 2008
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,333932,00.html
PETALUMA, Calif. —
Beginner's luck has turned a California woman into a millionaire.After playing the lottery for the first time, Elba Escamilla of Petaluma, Calif., discovered she had won the $80 million jackpot, state lottery officials said.Escamilla bought the winning ticket last week, but didn't check the numbers until she heard a television report about an unclaimed ticket from the store where she made her purchase, officials said.
The 48-year-old Escamilla has declined to be interviewed. A written statement released by the lottery says she plans on using part of the money to take her family for a vacation in Hawaii. Her $80 million jackpot is the largest ever for a Sonoma County resident.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
2008: Feb 28th Good News (Newborn baby survives fall through train toilet, AIDS immunization works in mice, more...)
Hello All!
Today I was going to focus on sharing news about what I dub as the "winning the war on plastic bags". In fact I posted two articles about it, and had this entire preview section written already. THEN I noticed I had not gotten the web page for the chewing gum article. When I went back to http://www.sciencedaily.com/ I found a new article about a nasal vaccine for HIV, that has worked in mice! That article bumped to #1, because, with AIDs affecting roughly 30 million people, I think that finding a cure is one of the most wonderful things that could happen!
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the posts today. See you again tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Smallpox, HIV: Oil-based Nasal Vaccine Technique Produces Immunity (Science Daily)
2. Newborn Survives Fall Through Train Toilet (CNN)
3. Blind Man Sees with Son's Tooth in His Eye (China Daily)
4. Gordon Brown Gives Supermarkets One Year to Start Charging for Plastic Bags ... or else (Daily Mail UK)
5. UN Rally to End Female Genital Mutilation (Scoop News NZ)
Honorable Mentions:
1. 8th Century BCE Seals Found at City of David Site (Scoop News NZ)
2. Chewing Gum Speeds Recovery From Gastrointestinal Surgery, Study Shows (Science Daily)
Unpublishable:
Polar Bear Born in Stuttgart (Statesman.com)
1. Smallpox, HIV: Oil-based Nasal Vaccine Technique Produces Immunity
ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226143559.htm
— A novel technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases -- using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles -- has proved able to produce a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two new studies.
The results build on previous success in animal studies with a nasal nanoemulsion vaccine for influenza, reported by University of Michigan researchers in 2003.
Nanoemulsion vaccines developed at the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences at U-M are based on a mixture of soybean oil, alcohol, water and detergents emulsified into ultra-small particles smaller than 400 nanometers wide, or 1/200th the width of a human hair. These are combined with part or all of the disease-causing microbe to trigger the body's immune response.
A team led by U-M scientist James Baker Jr., M.D., the institute's director, pioneered the technology, for which a patent was recently awarded to U-M.
"The two studies show the nanoemulsion platform is capable of developing vaccines from very diverse materials. We used whole virus in the smallpox vaccine. In the HIV vaccine, we used a single protein. We were able to promote an immune response using either source," says Baker.
The technology is licensed to NanoBio Corp., an Ann Arbor-based biotech company which Baker founded in 2000 and in which he has a financial interest. Baker is the Ruth Dow Doan Professor of internal medicine and Allergy Division chief at the U-M Medical School.
The surface tension of the nanoparticles disrupts membranes and destroys microbes but does not harm most human cells due to their location within body tissues. Nanoemulsion vaccines are highly effective at penetrating the mucous membranes in the nose and initiating strong and protective types of immune response, Baker says. U-M researchers are also exploring nasal nanoemulsion vaccines to protect against bioterrorism agents and hepatitis B.
Potential for a better smallpox vaccine
The smallpox results, which appear in the February issue of Clinical Vaccine Immunology, could lead to an effective human vaccine against smallpox that is safer than the present live-vaccinia virus vaccine because it would use nanoemulsion-killed vaccinia virus, says Baker.
Anna U. Bielinska, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, and others on Baker's research team developed a killed-vaccinia virus nanoemulsion vaccine which they placed in the noses of mice to trigger an immune response. They found the vaccine produced both mucosal and antibody immunity, as well as Th1 cellular immunity, an important measure of protective immunity.
When the mice were exposed to live vaccinia virus to test the vaccine's protective effect, all of them survived, while none of the unvaccinated control mice did. The researchers conclude that the nanoemulsion vaccinia vaccine offers protection equal to that of the existing vaccine, without the risk of using a live virus or the need for an inflammatory adjuvant such as alum hydroxide.
"We found that the nanoemulsion vaccine could inactivate and kill the virus and then subsequently induce immunity to the virus that includes cellular immunity, antibody immunity and mucosal immunity," Baker says.
In antibody immunity, antibodies bind invading microbes as they circulate through the body. In cellular immunity, the immune system attacks invaders inside infected cells. There is growing interest in vaccines that induce mucosal immunity, in which the immune system stops and kills the invader in mucous membranes before it enters body systems.
A National Institutes of Health program, the Great Lakes Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, funded the research. If the federal government conducts further studies and finds the nanoemulsion smallpox vaccine effective in people, it could be a safer way to protect citizens and health care workers in the event of a bioterrorism attack involving smallpox, Baker says.
That would allay concerns about the current vaccine's safety which arose in 2002. On the eve of the Iraq War, the Bush administration proposed a voluntary program to vaccinate military personnel and 500,000 health care workers with the existing vaccine to prepare for the possible use of smallpox virus as a biological weapon.
Relatively few health care workers volunteered to get the vaccine, amid concerns that the live vaccinia virus used in the vaccine can be transmitted to other people for a time and can pose a serious risk to people with weakened immune systems and certain skin conditions. As of mid-2007, more than 1.2 million military personnel received smallpox shots. Small percentages of those vaccinated subsequently have had heart and neurological adverse effects.
Early HIV study tests mucosal immunity
Baker's team has published results from a preliminary test of a nanoemulsion vaccine's effectiveness against HIV in the February issue of AIDS Research Human Retroviruses.
It is becoming widely acknowledged that standard approaches to vaccines against HIV have not worked. Baker says the HIV nanoemulsion vaccine tested in the noses of mice in the study represents "a different approach in the way it produces immunity and the type of immunity produced."
Vaccines administered in the nose are also able to induce mucosal immunity in the genital mucosa. Evidence is growing that HIV virus can infect the mucosal immune system.
"Therefore, developing mucosal immunity may be very important for protection against HIV," Baker says, adding that previous vaccine approaches have not aimed to do that.
In the study, the nanoemulsion HIV vaccine showed it was able to induce mucosal immunity, cellular immunity and neutralizing antibody to various isolates of HIV virus. A protein used by the team, gp120, is one of the major binding proteins under study in other HIV vaccine approaches.
"This was an exploratory study to see if further research is warranted," Baker says. His team plans further research to test the concept in animal models, potentially with whole viral vaccines or ones with multiple protein components.
The smallpox study appears in Clinical Vaccine Immunology, Vol. 15(2), Feb. 2008.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, through the Great Lakes Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases.
In addition to Bielinska and Baker, other University of Michigan authors include Alexander A. Chepurnov, Jeffrey J. Landers, Katarzyna W. Janczak, Tatiana S. Chepurnova and Gary D. Luker.
The HIV study results appear in AIDS Research Human Retroviruses, Vol. 24, Feb. 2008. The study was funded by the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences, the Ruth Dow Doan Endowment and the Burroughs Welcome Fund.
In addition to Baker, authors include Anna U. Bielinska, Katarzyna W. Janczak, Jeffrey J. Landers and David M. Markovitz of the U-M Medical School and David C. Montefiori of the Duke University Medical Center.
A patent has been granted and assigned to U-M for the nanoemulsion vaccine technique, which has been exclusively licensed to NanoBio Corp., an Ann Arbor based biotech company in which Baker has a financial interest.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.
2. Newborn Survives Fall Through Train Toilet
updated 2:35 p.m. EST, Thu February 28, 2008']));
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/28/india.baby.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
AHMADABAD, India (AP) --
A newborn baby girl fell through the toilet in a moving train and onto the tracks moments after her mother prematurely gave birth, surviving nearly two hours before being found, relatives said Thursday.
This newborn baby girl fell through the toilet on a moving train and onto the tracks moments after her mother prematurely gave birth.
The child's mother, who uses the single name Bhuri, was traveling with relatives on an overnight train when she went to the bathroom shortly before midnight Tuesday and unexpectedly gave birth to a baby girl, said Arjun Kumar, her brother-in-law.
"Later, she fell unconscious and the baby fell through the toilet," he continued. "Two stations later, we knocked at the door."
Bhuri opened the door, soaked in blood. Watch baby who survived fall »
"When we asked her about what happened, she said the baby had fallen through onto the tracks," Kumar said.
Toilets on Indian trains usually have holes that open directly onto the tracks, and there were no indications Thursday that authorities doubted Bhuri's story or planned to investigate the incident.
Kumar said that after finding Bhuri, relatives pulled the train's emergency brake and told railway officials what had happened. A search was quickly organized, and guards at one of the stations the train had passed soon found the baby.
"She was on the rail track for almost 1½ to two hours," said Dr. Gautam Jain, a pediatrician at Rajasthan Hospital in Ahmadabad, in the western state of Gujarat, where the baby and mother were taken
The child, who has not yet been named, was eight to 10 weeks premature and weighed only 3.22 pounds, Jain said. She had a low heart rate and body temperature.
"We do not expect such children to survive," Jain said.
3. Blind Man Sees with Son's Tooth in His Eye
Updated: 2008-02-29 06:39
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-02/29/content_6494321.htm
DUBLIN -- An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday.
Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident when red-hot liquid aluminium exploded at a re-cycling business in November 2005.
Blind man holding his cane is seen in this file photo. [Agencies]
"I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio.
After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England.
The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone.
The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw.
McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth.
The first operation lasted ten hours and the second five hours.
"It is pretty heavy going," McNichol said. "There was a 65 percent chance of me getting any sight.
"Now I have enough sight for me to get around and I can watch television. I have come out from complete darkness to be able to do simple things," McNichol said.
4. Gordon Brown Gives Supermarkets One Year to Start Charging for Plastic Bags ... or else
By BENEDICT BROGAN -
Last updated at 00:17am on 29th February 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522765&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490
Gordon Brown today orders supermarkets to stop giving away carrier bags - or be forced to do so. The Prime Minister is lending his voice to the Daily Mail's campaign against the blight of "plastic poison".
Under an initiative to be introduced next month, stores will be given a year to match Marks & Spencer's pledge to slash the use of environmentally- damaging throwaway bags, by charging customers 5p for each one.
Retailers who do not do so voluntarily will be required to impose a levy of at least 5p.
Supermarkets will be forced to charge their customers for disposable carrier bags under plans for a new green levy drawn up by Gordon Brown.
They will be given a year to end their reliance on single use plastic bags or face a legal requirement to introduce a charge and reveal how much it raises.
The Prime Minister will introduce legislation next month to impose a charge of 5p or even more on all giveaway bags next year if they fail to comply. And today he throws his weight behind the Daily Mail's landmark "Banish the Bags" campaign with an impassioned plea to retailers.
Writing exclusively for the Mail, he urges them to follow the example of Marks & Spencer by calling time on the wasteful culture of free single use carrier bags that is fouling the planet.
And he reveals that like millions of families each week, he and his wife Sarah are left with a "binful of plastic bags" from their supermarket delivery to remind them of the scale of the problem.
The Mail campaign, and its shocking image of a majestic giant turtle swathed in deadly plastic, has triggered an unprecedented response from readers clamouring for action to end "plastic pollution" caused by 13 billion bags handed out by shops each year.
Film stars, environmental groups, academics and politicians have rallied to the campaign. Last night Tesco and Sainsbury's responded to public pressure by confirming that they are drawing up plans to reduce the amount of plastic bags they give away.
And yesterday, the trade body which represents 33,000 convenience stores said they are ready to accept a plastic bag tax in a bid to reduce the number handed out.
There are suspicions that many major chains have been dragging their feet on the issue.
Scroll down for more ...
'Plastic poisin': A seagull picks over a pile of burst carrier bags
A voluntary agreement brokered by the Government to reduce the use of plastic bags by 25 per cent is behind target. Official figures show the number of bags issued by retailers has fallen by only 7.4 per cent in a year.
The average family gets through about 800 such bags a year, but each one gets used for only 20 minutes before being thrown away.
It emerged last night that Mr Brown is ready to impose a mandatory fee for disposable carrier bags if supermarkets across the UK fail to meet growing public demands for action.
M&S stole a march on its competitors yesterday by announcing in the Mail that it will slap a 5p charge on every plastic bag from May.
Other retailers will be given a year to follow suit or be compelled by law to introduce a mandatory fee for every bag they give away.
Amendments to the Climate Change Bill will give ministers the power require supermarkets to declare how much they raise each year from the new levy, and how the cash is spent.
The Daily Mail understands that a package of green measures being prepared in Whitehall could raise millions each year for environmental causes.
If other major retailers who between them give away more than seven billion bags a year follow the M&S lead with a 5p levy, the amount raised could hit £400m before customers switch to eco-friendly alternatives.
Mr Brown's plan falls short of imposing a tax on supermarkets by leaving it up to them to decide how to spend the proceeds from the sale of each bag. They will be required under law to publish in their annual accounts how much they raise, and how they spend it.
Details are still being worked out by Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and consultations with the devolved executives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will seek to make the scheme apply across the UK.
The Prime Minister believes that public pressure on retailers to "go green" will ensure the money they raise goes to environmental causes.
In his article for the Mail, Mr Brown praises M&S as well as Ikea, which has reduced its bag use by 95 per cent. "If they can do it, so can others," he says.
"I am convinced we need to act - and the time to act is now. I have already made clear that over time, we should aim to eliminate the single-use plastic bag altogether."
FOR MORE INFORMATION, see related article: Marks & Spencer Joins The Mail's Campaign to Banish the Bags by Charging for Them:
Last updated at 16:37pm on 28th February 2008 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=521529&in_page_id=1770
5. UN Rally to End Female Genital Mutilation
Friday, 29 February 2008, 8:20 am Press Release: United Nations
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0802/S00409.htm
UN agencies rally to end to female genital mutilation within a generation
27 February 2008 - Ten United Nations agencies have banded together to help eliminate the harmful practice of female genital mutilation within a generation, stressing the need for strong leadership and greater resources to protect the health and lives of millions of women and girls.
An estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure - which involves the partial or total removal of external female genital organs - that some 140 million women, mostly in Asia, the Middle East and in Africa, have already endured.
In a statement issued today, the agencies pledged to support governments and communities to abandon female genital mutilation, which remains widespread in many parts of the world, highlighting the damaging effects of the practice on the health of women, girls and newborn babies.
The agencies expressed their concern about the "medicalization" of the practice, whereby it is performed by health professionals in health facilities, and the belief that it enhances a girl's chastity and chances of marriage by controlling her sexuality.
"We recognize that traditions are often stronger than law, and legal action by itself is not enough," they said. "Change must also come from within. This is why it is critical for us to join hands and work closely with communities and their leaders so that they can bring about sustainable social change."
The aim is to have a major reduction in female genital mutilation in many countries by 2015, the target date for the achievement of the global anti-poverty objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"If we can come together for a sustained push, female genital mutilation can vanish within a generation," said Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro, adding her voice to the pledge made today. "But this goal demands both increased resources and strengthened coordination and cooperation among all of us."
She called on countries to join the UN as full partners in the fight against female genital mutilation, which "clashes with our core universal values and constitutes a challenge to human dignity and health."
Pledging their commitment to end the practice are the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Honorable Mentions:
1. 8th Century BCE Seals Found at City of David Site
Thursday, 28 February 2008, 8:28 am
Press Release: Israel Antiquities Authority
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0802/S00400.htm
Seals dating to the 8th Century BCE found at City of David excavations
Finds recovered from the excavations in the City of David reveal an interesting development in the ancient world: whereas during the 9th century BCE letters and goods were dispatched on behalf of their senders without names, by the 8th century BCE the clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals.
Complete seal bearing the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem".(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
In an excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and the Elad Association in the City of David, in the National Park around the Old City Walls of Jerusalem, artifacts were found that include, among other things, a complete seal that bears the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem" and fragments of bullae. The excavation directors are Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
In an archaeological excavation that is being carried out at the Spring House near the Gihon Spring in the City of David, soil was excavated which contained pottery sherds that date to the Iron Age 2 (8th century BCE).
Wet sifting and carefully sorting through the soil produced the hoped for results: fragments of three bullae (pieces of clay that were meant to seal letters or goods), and two stone seals were recently found. All of the objects bear Hebrew names and all date to the 8th century BCE. Among them is a seal that was discovered intact and which bears the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem", who lived in the City of David in Jerusalem during this period. The seals were primarily used by public officials.
According to the researchers, Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich, "In contrast with the large cluster of bullae that was found two years ago, in which all of its items contain graphic symbols (such as a boat or different animals - fish, lizards and birds) but are of an earlier date (end of the 9th-beginning of the 8th century BCE), the new items indicate that during the 8th century BCE the practice had changed and the clerks who used the seals began to add their names to them."
Chewing Gum Speeds Recovery From Gastrointestinal Surgery, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008)
— New research has resulted in an immediate change in the way physicians treat their patients -- giving them chewing gum to speed recovery following stomach-related surgery. Researchers find chewing gum is a simple solution to the recovery of bowel function after gastrointestinal surgery -- a problem that has troubled patients and physicians for decades.
Authors of the paper published in Urology* evaluated 102 patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery and gave half of them 5 pieces of chewing gum per day after their operation.
Chewing the gum is thought to stimulate the smooth muscle fibers and secretion from the salivary glands and liver. The 51 patients who chewed gum recovered their bowel movement significantly faster than those who did not.
Pediatric Urologist, Kropp. of Faculty of 1000 Medicine, will be giving his patients undergoing reconstructive surgery a piece of gum following their operation. He says, " In today's high-tech, molecular-driven scientific world, it is nice to come across an article that can be implemented immediately into our practices without increased healthcare cost."
Kropp also adds, "Just think how much a pack of gum would cost today had the pharmaceutical industry come across this information first."
*Journal reference: Gum chewing stimulates bowel motility in patients undergoing radical cystectomy with urinary diversion. Kouba EJ, Wallen EM, Pruthi RS in Urology 2007 Dec 70(6):1053-6 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?list_uids=18158012&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctn
Adapted from materials provided by BioMed Central, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Unpublishable:
Polar Bear Born in Stuttgart
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Europe/Germany_Polar_Bear.html
Today I was going to focus on sharing news about what I dub as the "winning the war on plastic bags". In fact I posted two articles about it, and had this entire preview section written already. THEN I noticed I had not gotten the web page for the chewing gum article. When I went back to http://www.sciencedaily.com/ I found a new article about a nasal vaccine for HIV, that has worked in mice! That article bumped to #1, because, with AIDs affecting roughly 30 million people, I think that finding a cure is one of the most wonderful things that could happen!
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the posts today. See you again tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Smallpox, HIV: Oil-based Nasal Vaccine Technique Produces Immunity (Science Daily)
2. Newborn Survives Fall Through Train Toilet (CNN)
3. Blind Man Sees with Son's Tooth in His Eye (China Daily)
4. Gordon Brown Gives Supermarkets One Year to Start Charging for Plastic Bags ... or else (Daily Mail UK)
5. UN Rally to End Female Genital Mutilation (Scoop News NZ)
Honorable Mentions:
1. 8th Century BCE Seals Found at City of David Site (Scoop News NZ)
2. Chewing Gum Speeds Recovery From Gastrointestinal Surgery, Study Shows (Science Daily)
Unpublishable:
Polar Bear Born in Stuttgart (Statesman.com)
1. Smallpox, HIV: Oil-based Nasal Vaccine Technique Produces Immunity
ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226143559.htm
— A novel technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases -- using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles -- has proved able to produce a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two new studies.
The results build on previous success in animal studies with a nasal nanoemulsion vaccine for influenza, reported by University of Michigan researchers in 2003.
Nanoemulsion vaccines developed at the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences at U-M are based on a mixture of soybean oil, alcohol, water and detergents emulsified into ultra-small particles smaller than 400 nanometers wide, or 1/200th the width of a human hair. These are combined with part or all of the disease-causing microbe to trigger the body's immune response.
A team led by U-M scientist James Baker Jr., M.D., the institute's director, pioneered the technology, for which a patent was recently awarded to U-M.
"The two studies show the nanoemulsion platform is capable of developing vaccines from very diverse materials. We used whole virus in the smallpox vaccine. In the HIV vaccine, we used a single protein. We were able to promote an immune response using either source," says Baker.
The technology is licensed to NanoBio Corp., an Ann Arbor-based biotech company which Baker founded in 2000 and in which he has a financial interest. Baker is the Ruth Dow Doan Professor of internal medicine and Allergy Division chief at the U-M Medical School.
The surface tension of the nanoparticles disrupts membranes and destroys microbes but does not harm most human cells due to their location within body tissues. Nanoemulsion vaccines are highly effective at penetrating the mucous membranes in the nose and initiating strong and protective types of immune response, Baker says. U-M researchers are also exploring nasal nanoemulsion vaccines to protect against bioterrorism agents and hepatitis B.
Potential for a better smallpox vaccine
The smallpox results, which appear in the February issue of Clinical Vaccine Immunology, could lead to an effective human vaccine against smallpox that is safer than the present live-vaccinia virus vaccine because it would use nanoemulsion-killed vaccinia virus, says Baker.
Anna U. Bielinska, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, and others on Baker's research team developed a killed-vaccinia virus nanoemulsion vaccine which they placed in the noses of mice to trigger an immune response. They found the vaccine produced both mucosal and antibody immunity, as well as Th1 cellular immunity, an important measure of protective immunity.
When the mice were exposed to live vaccinia virus to test the vaccine's protective effect, all of them survived, while none of the unvaccinated control mice did. The researchers conclude that the nanoemulsion vaccinia vaccine offers protection equal to that of the existing vaccine, without the risk of using a live virus or the need for an inflammatory adjuvant such as alum hydroxide.
"We found that the nanoemulsion vaccine could inactivate and kill the virus and then subsequently induce immunity to the virus that includes cellular immunity, antibody immunity and mucosal immunity," Baker says.
In antibody immunity, antibodies bind invading microbes as they circulate through the body. In cellular immunity, the immune system attacks invaders inside infected cells. There is growing interest in vaccines that induce mucosal immunity, in which the immune system stops and kills the invader in mucous membranes before it enters body systems.
A National Institutes of Health program, the Great Lakes Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, funded the research. If the federal government conducts further studies and finds the nanoemulsion smallpox vaccine effective in people, it could be a safer way to protect citizens and health care workers in the event of a bioterrorism attack involving smallpox, Baker says.
That would allay concerns about the current vaccine's safety which arose in 2002. On the eve of the Iraq War, the Bush administration proposed a voluntary program to vaccinate military personnel and 500,000 health care workers with the existing vaccine to prepare for the possible use of smallpox virus as a biological weapon.
Relatively few health care workers volunteered to get the vaccine, amid concerns that the live vaccinia virus used in the vaccine can be transmitted to other people for a time and can pose a serious risk to people with weakened immune systems and certain skin conditions. As of mid-2007, more than 1.2 million military personnel received smallpox shots. Small percentages of those vaccinated subsequently have had heart and neurological adverse effects.
Early HIV study tests mucosal immunity
Baker's team has published results from a preliminary test of a nanoemulsion vaccine's effectiveness against HIV in the February issue of AIDS Research Human Retroviruses.
It is becoming widely acknowledged that standard approaches to vaccines against HIV have not worked. Baker says the HIV nanoemulsion vaccine tested in the noses of mice in the study represents "a different approach in the way it produces immunity and the type of immunity produced."
Vaccines administered in the nose are also able to induce mucosal immunity in the genital mucosa. Evidence is growing that HIV virus can infect the mucosal immune system.
"Therefore, developing mucosal immunity may be very important for protection against HIV," Baker says, adding that previous vaccine approaches have not aimed to do that.
In the study, the nanoemulsion HIV vaccine showed it was able to induce mucosal immunity, cellular immunity and neutralizing antibody to various isolates of HIV virus. A protein used by the team, gp120, is one of the major binding proteins under study in other HIV vaccine approaches.
"This was an exploratory study to see if further research is warranted," Baker says. His team plans further research to test the concept in animal models, potentially with whole viral vaccines or ones with multiple protein components.
The smallpox study appears in Clinical Vaccine Immunology, Vol. 15(2), Feb. 2008.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, through the Great Lakes Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases.
In addition to Bielinska and Baker, other University of Michigan authors include Alexander A. Chepurnov, Jeffrey J. Landers, Katarzyna W. Janczak, Tatiana S. Chepurnova and Gary D. Luker.
The HIV study results appear in AIDS Research Human Retroviruses, Vol. 24, Feb. 2008. The study was funded by the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences, the Ruth Dow Doan Endowment and the Burroughs Welcome Fund.
In addition to Baker, authors include Anna U. Bielinska, Katarzyna W. Janczak, Jeffrey J. Landers and David M. Markovitz of the U-M Medical School and David C. Montefiori of the Duke University Medical Center.
A patent has been granted and assigned to U-M for the nanoemulsion vaccine technique, which has been exclusively licensed to NanoBio Corp., an Ann Arbor based biotech company in which Baker has a financial interest.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.
2. Newborn Survives Fall Through Train Toilet
updated 2:35 p.m. EST, Thu February 28, 2008']));
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/28/india.baby.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
AHMADABAD, India (AP) --
A newborn baby girl fell through the toilet in a moving train and onto the tracks moments after her mother prematurely gave birth, surviving nearly two hours before being found, relatives said Thursday.
This newborn baby girl fell through the toilet on a moving train and onto the tracks moments after her mother prematurely gave birth.
The child's mother, who uses the single name Bhuri, was traveling with relatives on an overnight train when she went to the bathroom shortly before midnight Tuesday and unexpectedly gave birth to a baby girl, said Arjun Kumar, her brother-in-law.
"Later, she fell unconscious and the baby fell through the toilet," he continued. "Two stations later, we knocked at the door."
Bhuri opened the door, soaked in blood. Watch baby who survived fall »
"When we asked her about what happened, she said the baby had fallen through onto the tracks," Kumar said.
Toilets on Indian trains usually have holes that open directly onto the tracks, and there were no indications Thursday that authorities doubted Bhuri's story or planned to investigate the incident.
Kumar said that after finding Bhuri, relatives pulled the train's emergency brake and told railway officials what had happened. A search was quickly organized, and guards at one of the stations the train had passed soon found the baby.
"She was on the rail track for almost 1½ to two hours," said Dr. Gautam Jain, a pediatrician at Rajasthan Hospital in Ahmadabad, in the western state of Gujarat, where the baby and mother were taken
The child, who has not yet been named, was eight to 10 weeks premature and weighed only 3.22 pounds, Jain said. She had a low heart rate and body temperature.
"We do not expect such children to survive," Jain said.
3. Blind Man Sees with Son's Tooth in His Eye
Updated: 2008-02-29 06:39
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-02/29/content_6494321.htm
DUBLIN -- An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday.
Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident when red-hot liquid aluminium exploded at a re-cycling business in November 2005.
Blind man holding his cane is seen in this file photo. [Agencies]
"I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio.
After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England.
The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone.
The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw.
McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth.
The first operation lasted ten hours and the second five hours.
"It is pretty heavy going," McNichol said. "There was a 65 percent chance of me getting any sight.
"Now I have enough sight for me to get around and I can watch television. I have come out from complete darkness to be able to do simple things," McNichol said.
4. Gordon Brown Gives Supermarkets One Year to Start Charging for Plastic Bags ... or else
By BENEDICT BROGAN -
Last updated at 00:17am on 29th February 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522765&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490
Gordon Brown today orders supermarkets to stop giving away carrier bags - or be forced to do so. The Prime Minister is lending his voice to the Daily Mail's campaign against the blight of "plastic poison".
Under an initiative to be introduced next month, stores will be given a year to match Marks & Spencer's pledge to slash the use of environmentally- damaging throwaway bags, by charging customers 5p for each one.
Retailers who do not do so voluntarily will be required to impose a levy of at least 5p.
Supermarkets will be forced to charge their customers for disposable carrier bags under plans for a new green levy drawn up by Gordon Brown.
They will be given a year to end their reliance on single use plastic bags or face a legal requirement to introduce a charge and reveal how much it raises.
The Prime Minister will introduce legislation next month to impose a charge of 5p or even more on all giveaway bags next year if they fail to comply. And today he throws his weight behind the Daily Mail's landmark "Banish the Bags" campaign with an impassioned plea to retailers.
Writing exclusively for the Mail, he urges them to follow the example of Marks & Spencer by calling time on the wasteful culture of free single use carrier bags that is fouling the planet.
And he reveals that like millions of families each week, he and his wife Sarah are left with a "binful of plastic bags" from their supermarket delivery to remind them of the scale of the problem.
The Mail campaign, and its shocking image of a majestic giant turtle swathed in deadly plastic, has triggered an unprecedented response from readers clamouring for action to end "plastic pollution" caused by 13 billion bags handed out by shops each year.
Film stars, environmental groups, academics and politicians have rallied to the campaign. Last night Tesco and Sainsbury's responded to public pressure by confirming that they are drawing up plans to reduce the amount of plastic bags they give away.
And yesterday, the trade body which represents 33,000 convenience stores said they are ready to accept a plastic bag tax in a bid to reduce the number handed out.
There are suspicions that many major chains have been dragging their feet on the issue.
Scroll down for more ...
'Plastic poisin': A seagull picks over a pile of burst carrier bags
A voluntary agreement brokered by the Government to reduce the use of plastic bags by 25 per cent is behind target. Official figures show the number of bags issued by retailers has fallen by only 7.4 per cent in a year.
The average family gets through about 800 such bags a year, but each one gets used for only 20 minutes before being thrown away.
It emerged last night that Mr Brown is ready to impose a mandatory fee for disposable carrier bags if supermarkets across the UK fail to meet growing public demands for action.
M&S stole a march on its competitors yesterday by announcing in the Mail that it will slap a 5p charge on every plastic bag from May.
Other retailers will be given a year to follow suit or be compelled by law to introduce a mandatory fee for every bag they give away.
Amendments to the Climate Change Bill will give ministers the power require supermarkets to declare how much they raise each year from the new levy, and how the cash is spent.
The Daily Mail understands that a package of green measures being prepared in Whitehall could raise millions each year for environmental causes.
If other major retailers who between them give away more than seven billion bags a year follow the M&S lead with a 5p levy, the amount raised could hit £400m before customers switch to eco-friendly alternatives.
Mr Brown's plan falls short of imposing a tax on supermarkets by leaving it up to them to decide how to spend the proceeds from the sale of each bag. They will be required under law to publish in their annual accounts how much they raise, and how they spend it.
Details are still being worked out by Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and consultations with the devolved executives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will seek to make the scheme apply across the UK.
The Prime Minister believes that public pressure on retailers to "go green" will ensure the money they raise goes to environmental causes.
In his article for the Mail, Mr Brown praises M&S as well as Ikea, which has reduced its bag use by 95 per cent. "If they can do it, so can others," he says.
"I am convinced we need to act - and the time to act is now. I have already made clear that over time, we should aim to eliminate the single-use plastic bag altogether."
FOR MORE INFORMATION, see related article: Marks & Spencer Joins The Mail's Campaign to Banish the Bags by Charging for Them:
Last updated at 16:37pm on 28th February 2008 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=521529&in_page_id=1770
5. UN Rally to End Female Genital Mutilation
Friday, 29 February 2008, 8:20 am Press Release: United Nations
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0802/S00409.htm
UN agencies rally to end to female genital mutilation within a generation
27 February 2008 - Ten United Nations agencies have banded together to help eliminate the harmful practice of female genital mutilation within a generation, stressing the need for strong leadership and greater resources to protect the health and lives of millions of women and girls.
An estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure - which involves the partial or total removal of external female genital organs - that some 140 million women, mostly in Asia, the Middle East and in Africa, have already endured.
In a statement issued today, the agencies pledged to support governments and communities to abandon female genital mutilation, which remains widespread in many parts of the world, highlighting the damaging effects of the practice on the health of women, girls and newborn babies.
The agencies expressed their concern about the "medicalization" of the practice, whereby it is performed by health professionals in health facilities, and the belief that it enhances a girl's chastity and chances of marriage by controlling her sexuality.
"We recognize that traditions are often stronger than law, and legal action by itself is not enough," they said. "Change must also come from within. This is why it is critical for us to join hands and work closely with communities and their leaders so that they can bring about sustainable social change."
The aim is to have a major reduction in female genital mutilation in many countries by 2015, the target date for the achievement of the global anti-poverty objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"If we can come together for a sustained push, female genital mutilation can vanish within a generation," said Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro, adding her voice to the pledge made today. "But this goal demands both increased resources and strengthened coordination and cooperation among all of us."
She called on countries to join the UN as full partners in the fight against female genital mutilation, which "clashes with our core universal values and constitutes a challenge to human dignity and health."
Pledging their commitment to end the practice are the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Honorable Mentions:
1. 8th Century BCE Seals Found at City of David Site
Thursday, 28 February 2008, 8:28 am
Press Release: Israel Antiquities Authority
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0802/S00400.htm
Seals dating to the 8th Century BCE found at City of David excavations
Finds recovered from the excavations in the City of David reveal an interesting development in the ancient world: whereas during the 9th century BCE letters and goods were dispatched on behalf of their senders without names, by the 8th century BCE the clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals.
Complete seal bearing the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem".(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
In an excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and the Elad Association in the City of David, in the National Park around the Old City Walls of Jerusalem, artifacts were found that include, among other things, a complete seal that bears the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem" and fragments of bullae. The excavation directors are Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
In an archaeological excavation that is being carried out at the Spring House near the Gihon Spring in the City of David, soil was excavated which contained pottery sherds that date to the Iron Age 2 (8th century BCE).
Wet sifting and carefully sorting through the soil produced the hoped for results: fragments of three bullae (pieces of clay that were meant to seal letters or goods), and two stone seals were recently found. All of the objects bear Hebrew names and all date to the 8th century BCE. Among them is a seal that was discovered intact and which bears the Hebrew name "Rephaihu (ben) Shalem", who lived in the City of David in Jerusalem during this period. The seals were primarily used by public officials.
According to the researchers, Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich, "In contrast with the large cluster of bullae that was found two years ago, in which all of its items contain graphic symbols (such as a boat or different animals - fish, lizards and birds) but are of an earlier date (end of the 9th-beginning of the 8th century BCE), the new items indicate that during the 8th century BCE the practice had changed and the clerks who used the seals began to add their names to them."
Chewing Gum Speeds Recovery From Gastrointestinal Surgery, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008)
— New research has resulted in an immediate change in the way physicians treat their patients -- giving them chewing gum to speed recovery following stomach-related surgery. Researchers find chewing gum is a simple solution to the recovery of bowel function after gastrointestinal surgery -- a problem that has troubled patients and physicians for decades.
Authors of the paper published in Urology* evaluated 102 patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery and gave half of them 5 pieces of chewing gum per day after their operation.
Chewing the gum is thought to stimulate the smooth muscle fibers and secretion from the salivary glands and liver. The 51 patients who chewed gum recovered their bowel movement significantly faster than those who did not.
Pediatric Urologist, Kropp. of Faculty of 1000 Medicine, will be giving his patients undergoing reconstructive surgery a piece of gum following their operation. He says, " In today's high-tech, molecular-driven scientific world, it is nice to come across an article that can be implemented immediately into our practices without increased healthcare cost."
Kropp also adds, "Just think how much a pack of gum would cost today had the pharmaceutical industry come across this information first."
*Journal reference: Gum chewing stimulates bowel motility in patients undergoing radical cystectomy with urinary diversion. Kouba EJ, Wallen EM, Pruthi RS in Urology 2007 Dec 70(6):1053-6 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?list_uids=18158012&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctn
Adapted from materials provided by BioMed Central, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Unpublishable:
Polar Bear Born in Stuttgart
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Europe/Germany_Polar_Bear.html
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
2008: Feb 27th Good News (Fisherman survives after 30 hours at sea, Iraq vet wins 1 million...more)
Hello All,
Today I noticed that a lot of good news centers around lottery winnings. I think that, although buying lotto tickets is form of gambling, most people see winning the lotto as good, because it generally gives lower income families a fresh start. In today's lotto winning story, a soldier who had deployed to Iraq twice was the winner. This really gave me a warm fuzzy. I thought, if anyone deserved a winning ticket, it was someone who had been to war, twice.
Also, I have put one more follow up on the NY philharmonic trip to North Korea. Apparently, it sparked something in someone, as shortly thereafter, NK announced that they would invite Eric Clapton to sing there next year. Anyway, hope you all enjoy today's pickings. :)
Today's Top 5:
1. Iraq Vet Wins $1 Million in Lottery Scratch-off (The Spokesman Review)
2. Fisherman Survives After 30hrs at Sea (News.Com AU)
3. Firefighter Rescues Fellow Bravest After Resident Rescued (New York Daily News)
4. Montana Girl Wins Planet Mnemonic Contest (Space.com)
5. Bacterial 'Battle For Survival' Leads To New Antibiotic (Science Daily)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Clapton may Play in P'yang Next Year: NK Embassy (Korea Herald)
2. China Closes Plastic Bags Firm (The Hindu)
1. Iraq Vet Wins $1 Million in Lottery Scratch-off
Jody Lawrence-Turner
February 27, 2008
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=13866
Wayne Leyde’s rent is going up.
So says his mom, after the 26-year-old National Guardsman won $1 million on a Washington Lottery scratch-off ticket.
Leyde, who lives with his parents in the Mount Spokane area and has served two tours of duty in Iraq, said today that if anyone should benefit from his windfall, it’s his parents.
Leyde came into his fortune Tuesday night after scratching off one of four tickets he bought at a Zip Trip in Mead. About 10:30 p.m., he scraped away the gray metallic cover on his Millionaire II ticket revealing the winning numbers and ran downstairs to tell his parents.
The former active-duty soldier says that as he tried to sleep Tuesday night, he thought of 50 people he should give money to and about 10,000 ways to spend it.
Leyde is now enlisted in the National Guard and works as a personal banker for Wells Fargo.
2. Fisherman Survives After 30hrs at Sea
February 28, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23289597-2702,00.html
ONE of two fishermen lost at sea after their fishing trawler sank off the coast of Byron Bay in northern NSW has been found alive.
A spokeswoman for the Maritime Safety Authority said the man was found floating about 15km north-east of Ballina, on the NSW north coast, at 8.15am (AEDT) today.
A rescue helicopter airlifted the man to Ballina Hospital in an unknown medical condition but rescue crews are concerned for the man's wellbeing.
“Obviously he's been in the water for quite some time,” the spokeswoman said.
The man survived up to 30 hours at sea after the trawler sank when it likely struck an offshore reef about 4am (AEDT) yesterday.
Another fisherman on board the boat swam 12 hours to shore yesterday to raise the alarm.
The 39-year-old made it to New Brighton Beach where he was found by a passerby about 4pm yesterday, suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.
A third man was still missing this morning.
Queensland Rescue spokesman Andy Christie said he spoke to the helicopter crew who located the second man.
“The crew said that he was talking, he was conscious - physically appeared to be okay ... but they were quick to point out that he had spent a very cold night in the water,” Mr Christie told Sky News.
He was not sure which of the two remaining men had been rescued or if he was clinging to an esky, as has been reported.
Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter spokesman Roger Fry said the ability of two men to survive gave hope to search crews that they will find the third fisherman alive.
“Judging that the second fisherman survived through the night ... we can only hope that the same has occurred with the third,” Mr Fry told Sky News.
Up to 10 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from NSW and south-east Queensland were still searching for the missing crew member this morning.
It is believed the men's trawler, which operates from Brunswick Heads, north of Byron Bay, may have sunk after hitting a reef before dawn yesterday.
The alarm was not raised until about 4pm (AEDT) yesterday, when the 39-year-old fisherman made it to shore at New Brighton Beach after a marathon swim that police described as miraculous.
The survivor found yesterday is recuperating in Mullumbimby Hospital, where he was last night in a stable condition.
He told authorities he last saw his two crewmates clinging to a flotation device, possibly an Esky.
3. Firefighter Rescues Fellow Bravest After Resident Rescued
BY TANANGACHI MFUNI and MICHAEL WHITE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/02/27/2008-02-27_firefighter_rescues_fellow_bravest_after.html
Wednesday, February 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
A Queens firefighter rescued his fellow Bravest from a burning house early Tuesday - and then jumped to safety from a second-floor window just seconds before the bedroom was engulfed in flames.
"As soon as they bailed out, the room lit up," FDNY Battalion Chief Patrick Ginty said of the 3:30 a.m. heroics at the two-alarm fire in Richmond Hill.
Firefighter Robert Grover of Engine 143 became trapped on the second floor of the cluttered 114th St. house as he searched for residents he believed were still inside.
When Grover couldn't escape the flames, Firefighter Anthony Romano of Engine 142 climbed a ladder to the rear bedroom to save him, officials said.
Romano ducked in through a window, found Grover in the bedroom and helped him back to the window. The pair then jumped to the ground about 20 feet below, Ginty said.
"They tumbled off of the roof and [then] fell about 10 feet," said Ginty, his face smeared with soot. "They did a great job."
Firefighters also rescued the 74-year-old homeowner, Robert Fuchs, who was sleeping in the burning house.
"Two of the firemen broke through the window and they pulled me out," Fuchs said. "If they didn't come, I'd be dead."
Fuchs was later arrested on weapons charges after fire marshals found several unlicensed guns in the house.
Grover was recovering last night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell with burns on his neck, ears and hands. He was in stable condition. Romano was treated for minor injuries and released.
Fire officials said the blaze was accidental.
4. Montana Girl Wins Planet Mnemonic Contest
http://www.space.com/news/ap-080227-planet-mnemonic-contest.html
posted: 27 February 200811:09 am ET
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A fourth-grader at Riverview Elementary School has won the National Geographic planetary mnemonic contest, developing a handy way to remember the newly assigned 11 planets, including three dwarfs.
National Geographic Children's Books created the contest in response to the recent announcement by the scientific community that there are now 11 recognized planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris. Ceres, Pluto and Eris are considered dwarf planets.
Ten-year-old Maryn Smith's winning mnemonic is My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
"When I got the call, my first response was, 'I won?'" Smith said in a statement. "I can't believe that next year my teacher will be teaching her new class the order of the planets using my mnemonic!"
Smith's mnemonic will be published in astronomer David Aguilar's next National Geographic book, "11 Planets: A New View of the Solar System.'' It also will be recorded into a song by Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Lisa Loeb. Both are scheduled to be released in March.
5. Bacterial 'Battle For Survival' Leads To New Antibiotic
ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226115618.htm
— MIT biologists have provoked soil-dwelling bacteria into producing a new type of antibiotic by pitting them against another strain of bacteria in a battle for survival.
The antibiotic holds promise for treatment of Helicobacter pylori, which causes stomach ulcers in humans. Also, figuring out the still murky explanation for how the new antibiotic was produced could help scientists develop strategies for finding other new antibiotics.
A combination of luck, patience and good detective work contributed to the discovery of the new antibiotic, according to Philip Lessard, research scientist in Professor Anthony Sinskey's laboratory at MIT.
Sinskey's lab has been studying Rhodococcus, a type of soil-dwelling bacteria, for many years. While sequencing the genome of one Rhodococcus species, the researchers noticed that a large number of genes seemed to code for secondary metabolic products, which are compounds such as antibiotics, toxins and pigments.
However, Rhodococcus does not normally produce antibiotics. Many bacteria have genes for antibiotics that are only activated when the bacteria are threatened in some way, so the researchers suspected that might be true of Rhodococcus.
Kazuhiko Kurosawa, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Biology, decided to try to provoke the bacteria into synthesizing antibiotics by placing them in stressful environments. He tried turning the temperature up and down, then altered the bacteria's growth medium, but nothing worked.
Kurosawa then decided to stress the Rhodococcus bacteria by forcing them to grow in the presence of a competing bacteria, a strain of Streptomyces. Streptomyces produces an antibiotic that normally kills other bacteria, but in one of the experimental test tubes, Rhodococcus started producing its own antibiotic, which wiped out the Streptomyces.
The researchers isolated the antibiotic, dubbed it rhodostreptomycin, and started testing it to see what else it would kill. It proved effective against many other strains of bacteria, most notably Helicobacter pylori. Rhodostreptomycin is a promising candidate to treat H. pylori because it can survive in very acidic environments such as the stomach.
The antibiotic turned out to be a type of molecule called an aminoglycoside, composed of peculiar sugars, one of which has a ring structure that has not been seen before. The ring structure could offer chemists a new target for modification, allowing them to synthesize antibiotics that are more effective and/or stable.
"Even if (rhodostreptomycin) is not the best antibiotic, it provides new structures to make chemical derivatives of," said Lessard. "This may be a starting point for new antibiotics."
One mystery still to be solved is why Rhodococcus started producing this antibiotic. One theory is that the presence of the competing strain of bacteria caused Rhodococcus to "raise the alarm" and turn on new genes.
The version of Rhodococcus that produces the antibiotic has a "megaplasmid," or large segment of extra DNA, that it received from Streptomyces. A logical conclusion is that the plasmid carries the gene for rhodostreptomycin, but the researchers have sequenced more than half of the plasmid and found no genes that correlate to the antibiotic.
Another theory is that the plasmid itself served as the "insult" that provoked Rhodococcus into producing the antibiotic. Alternatively, it is possible that some kind of interaction of the two bacterial genomes produced the new antibiotic.
"Somehow the genes in the megaplasmid combined with the genes in Rhodococcus and together they produced something that neither parent could make alone," said Lessard.
If scientists could figure out how that happens, they could start to manipulate bacterial genomes in a more methodical fashion to design new antibiotics.
The work is reported in the February issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Other authors of the paper are T.G. Sambandan, research scientist in MIT's Department of Biology, MIT professors Anthony Sinskey of biology and ChoKyun Rha of the Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory, and Ion Ghiviriga and Joanna Barbara of the University of Florida.
The research was funded by the Cambridge-MIT Institute and the Malaysia-MIT Biotechnology Partnership Program.
Adapted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Clapton may Play in P'yang Next Year: NK Embassy
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/
2008.02.27
World-renowned English rock guitarist Eric Clapton is highly likely to perform in Pyongyang early next year, an official from the North Korean Embassy in London was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
His remark came on the heels of a historic 90-minute concert by the New York Philharmonic in the North Korean capital earlier in the day.
"Clapton's Pyongyang concert is being pushed in the form of reciprocating our national orchestra's performance set for September in London," the official, asking anonymity, told Yonhap News Agency over the phone.
2. China Closes Plastic Bags Firm
http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/28/stories/2008022854421400.htm
Pallavi Aiyar
27 February 2008
Today I noticed that a lot of good news centers around lottery winnings. I think that, although buying lotto tickets is form of gambling, most people see winning the lotto as good, because it generally gives lower income families a fresh start. In today's lotto winning story, a soldier who had deployed to Iraq twice was the winner. This really gave me a warm fuzzy. I thought, if anyone deserved a winning ticket, it was someone who had been to war, twice.
Also, I have put one more follow up on the NY philharmonic trip to North Korea. Apparently, it sparked something in someone, as shortly thereafter, NK announced that they would invite Eric Clapton to sing there next year. Anyway, hope you all enjoy today's pickings. :)
Today's Top 5:
1. Iraq Vet Wins $1 Million in Lottery Scratch-off (The Spokesman Review)
2. Fisherman Survives After 30hrs at Sea (News.Com AU)
3. Firefighter Rescues Fellow Bravest After Resident Rescued (New York Daily News)
4. Montana Girl Wins Planet Mnemonic Contest (Space.com)
5. Bacterial 'Battle For Survival' Leads To New Antibiotic (Science Daily)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Clapton may Play in P'yang Next Year: NK Embassy (Korea Herald)
2. China Closes Plastic Bags Firm (The Hindu)
1. Iraq Vet Wins $1 Million in Lottery Scratch-off
Jody Lawrence-Turner
February 27, 2008
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=13866
Wayne Leyde’s rent is going up.
So says his mom, after the 26-year-old National Guardsman won $1 million on a Washington Lottery scratch-off ticket.
Leyde, who lives with his parents in the Mount Spokane area and has served two tours of duty in Iraq, said today that if anyone should benefit from his windfall, it’s his parents.
Leyde came into his fortune Tuesday night after scratching off one of four tickets he bought at a Zip Trip in Mead. About 10:30 p.m., he scraped away the gray metallic cover on his Millionaire II ticket revealing the winning numbers and ran downstairs to tell his parents.
The former active-duty soldier says that as he tried to sleep Tuesday night, he thought of 50 people he should give money to and about 10,000 ways to spend it.
Leyde is now enlisted in the National Guard and works as a personal banker for Wells Fargo.
2. Fisherman Survives After 30hrs at Sea
February 28, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23289597-2702,00.html
ONE of two fishermen lost at sea after their fishing trawler sank off the coast of Byron Bay in northern NSW has been found alive.
A spokeswoman for the Maritime Safety Authority said the man was found floating about 15km north-east of Ballina, on the NSW north coast, at 8.15am (AEDT) today.
A rescue helicopter airlifted the man to Ballina Hospital in an unknown medical condition but rescue crews are concerned for the man's wellbeing.
“Obviously he's been in the water for quite some time,” the spokeswoman said.
The man survived up to 30 hours at sea after the trawler sank when it likely struck an offshore reef about 4am (AEDT) yesterday.
Another fisherman on board the boat swam 12 hours to shore yesterday to raise the alarm.
The 39-year-old made it to New Brighton Beach where he was found by a passerby about 4pm yesterday, suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.
A third man was still missing this morning.
Queensland Rescue spokesman Andy Christie said he spoke to the helicopter crew who located the second man.
“The crew said that he was talking, he was conscious - physically appeared to be okay ... but they were quick to point out that he had spent a very cold night in the water,” Mr Christie told Sky News.
He was not sure which of the two remaining men had been rescued or if he was clinging to an esky, as has been reported.
Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter spokesman Roger Fry said the ability of two men to survive gave hope to search crews that they will find the third fisherman alive.
“Judging that the second fisherman survived through the night ... we can only hope that the same has occurred with the third,” Mr Fry told Sky News.
Up to 10 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from NSW and south-east Queensland were still searching for the missing crew member this morning.
It is believed the men's trawler, which operates from Brunswick Heads, north of Byron Bay, may have sunk after hitting a reef before dawn yesterday.
The alarm was not raised until about 4pm (AEDT) yesterday, when the 39-year-old fisherman made it to shore at New Brighton Beach after a marathon swim that police described as miraculous.
The survivor found yesterday is recuperating in Mullumbimby Hospital, where he was last night in a stable condition.
He told authorities he last saw his two crewmates clinging to a flotation device, possibly an Esky.
3. Firefighter Rescues Fellow Bravest After Resident Rescued
BY TANANGACHI MFUNI and MICHAEL WHITE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/02/27/2008-02-27_firefighter_rescues_fellow_bravest_after.html
Wednesday, February 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
A Queens firefighter rescued his fellow Bravest from a burning house early Tuesday - and then jumped to safety from a second-floor window just seconds before the bedroom was engulfed in flames.
"As soon as they bailed out, the room lit up," FDNY Battalion Chief Patrick Ginty said of the 3:30 a.m. heroics at the two-alarm fire in Richmond Hill.
Firefighter Robert Grover of Engine 143 became trapped on the second floor of the cluttered 114th St. house as he searched for residents he believed were still inside.
When Grover couldn't escape the flames, Firefighter Anthony Romano of Engine 142 climbed a ladder to the rear bedroom to save him, officials said.
Romano ducked in through a window, found Grover in the bedroom and helped him back to the window. The pair then jumped to the ground about 20 feet below, Ginty said.
"They tumbled off of the roof and [then] fell about 10 feet," said Ginty, his face smeared with soot. "They did a great job."
Firefighters also rescued the 74-year-old homeowner, Robert Fuchs, who was sleeping in the burning house.
"Two of the firemen broke through the window and they pulled me out," Fuchs said. "If they didn't come, I'd be dead."
Fuchs was later arrested on weapons charges after fire marshals found several unlicensed guns in the house.
Grover was recovering last night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell with burns on his neck, ears and hands. He was in stable condition. Romano was treated for minor injuries and released.
Fire officials said the blaze was accidental.
4. Montana Girl Wins Planet Mnemonic Contest
http://www.space.com/news/ap-080227-planet-mnemonic-contest.html
posted: 27 February 200811:09 am ET
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A fourth-grader at Riverview Elementary School has won the National Geographic planetary mnemonic contest, developing a handy way to remember the newly assigned 11 planets, including three dwarfs.
National Geographic Children's Books created the contest in response to the recent announcement by the scientific community that there are now 11 recognized planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris. Ceres, Pluto and Eris are considered dwarf planets.
Ten-year-old Maryn Smith's winning mnemonic is My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
"When I got the call, my first response was, 'I won?'" Smith said in a statement. "I can't believe that next year my teacher will be teaching her new class the order of the planets using my mnemonic!"
Smith's mnemonic will be published in astronomer David Aguilar's next National Geographic book, "11 Planets: A New View of the Solar System.'' It also will be recorded into a song by Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Lisa Loeb. Both are scheduled to be released in March.
5. Bacterial 'Battle For Survival' Leads To New Antibiotic
ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226115618.htm
— MIT biologists have provoked soil-dwelling bacteria into producing a new type of antibiotic by pitting them against another strain of bacteria in a battle for survival.
The antibiotic holds promise for treatment of Helicobacter pylori, which causes stomach ulcers in humans. Also, figuring out the still murky explanation for how the new antibiotic was produced could help scientists develop strategies for finding other new antibiotics.
A combination of luck, patience and good detective work contributed to the discovery of the new antibiotic, according to Philip Lessard, research scientist in Professor Anthony Sinskey's laboratory at MIT.
Sinskey's lab has been studying Rhodococcus, a type of soil-dwelling bacteria, for many years. While sequencing the genome of one Rhodococcus species, the researchers noticed that a large number of genes seemed to code for secondary metabolic products, which are compounds such as antibiotics, toxins and pigments.
However, Rhodococcus does not normally produce antibiotics. Many bacteria have genes for antibiotics that are only activated when the bacteria are threatened in some way, so the researchers suspected that might be true of Rhodococcus.
Kazuhiko Kurosawa, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Biology, decided to try to provoke the bacteria into synthesizing antibiotics by placing them in stressful environments. He tried turning the temperature up and down, then altered the bacteria's growth medium, but nothing worked.
Kurosawa then decided to stress the Rhodococcus bacteria by forcing them to grow in the presence of a competing bacteria, a strain of Streptomyces. Streptomyces produces an antibiotic that normally kills other bacteria, but in one of the experimental test tubes, Rhodococcus started producing its own antibiotic, which wiped out the Streptomyces.
The researchers isolated the antibiotic, dubbed it rhodostreptomycin, and started testing it to see what else it would kill. It proved effective against many other strains of bacteria, most notably Helicobacter pylori. Rhodostreptomycin is a promising candidate to treat H. pylori because it can survive in very acidic environments such as the stomach.
The antibiotic turned out to be a type of molecule called an aminoglycoside, composed of peculiar sugars, one of which has a ring structure that has not been seen before. The ring structure could offer chemists a new target for modification, allowing them to synthesize antibiotics that are more effective and/or stable.
"Even if (rhodostreptomycin) is not the best antibiotic, it provides new structures to make chemical derivatives of," said Lessard. "This may be a starting point for new antibiotics."
One mystery still to be solved is why Rhodococcus started producing this antibiotic. One theory is that the presence of the competing strain of bacteria caused Rhodococcus to "raise the alarm" and turn on new genes.
The version of Rhodococcus that produces the antibiotic has a "megaplasmid," or large segment of extra DNA, that it received from Streptomyces. A logical conclusion is that the plasmid carries the gene for rhodostreptomycin, but the researchers have sequenced more than half of the plasmid and found no genes that correlate to the antibiotic.
Another theory is that the plasmid itself served as the "insult" that provoked Rhodococcus into producing the antibiotic. Alternatively, it is possible that some kind of interaction of the two bacterial genomes produced the new antibiotic.
"Somehow the genes in the megaplasmid combined with the genes in Rhodococcus and together they produced something that neither parent could make alone," said Lessard.
If scientists could figure out how that happens, they could start to manipulate bacterial genomes in a more methodical fashion to design new antibiotics.
The work is reported in the February issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Other authors of the paper are T.G. Sambandan, research scientist in MIT's Department of Biology, MIT professors Anthony Sinskey of biology and ChoKyun Rha of the Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory, and Ion Ghiviriga and Joanna Barbara of the University of Florida.
The research was funded by the Cambridge-MIT Institute and the Malaysia-MIT Biotechnology Partnership Program.
Adapted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Clapton may Play in P'yang Next Year: NK Embassy
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/
2008.02.27
World-renowned English rock guitarist Eric Clapton is highly likely to perform in Pyongyang early next year, an official from the North Korean Embassy in London was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
His remark came on the heels of a historic 90-minute concert by the New York Philharmonic in the North Korean capital earlier in the day.
"Clapton's Pyongyang concert is being pushed in the form of reciprocating our national orchestra's performance set for September in London," the official, asking anonymity, told Yonhap News Agency over the phone.
"As Clapton is scheduled to perform in Japan early next year, chances are high his concert in Pyongyang will take place around that time," the official said. "We welcome his Pyongyang concert." Meanwhile, the North's State Symphony Orchestra's London concert is being arranged by British vocalist Suzannah Clark, who performed at a Pyongyang festival to mark the birthday of the late North Korean President Kim Il-sung at the invitation of his son, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, in April last year. It is unusual for the communist North to invite a Western pop artist as it has banned pop music in fear of the spread of capitalist Western pop culture into its society, although classical music is allowed.
2. China Closes Plastic Bags Firm
http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/28/stories/2008022854421400.htm
Pallavi Aiyar
27 February 2008
Beijing: The battle to clean up China’s environment has led to the closure of the country’s largest producer of plastic bags.
The announcement comes after a state-led campaign discouraging the consumption of plastics was launched last month. The new regulations banned the use of ultra-thin bags (under 0.025 mm thick) and ordered supermarkets and shops to stop giving away free carriers from June 1. Following the move, Suiping Huaqiang Plastic Co., a company that annually produced some 250,000 tonnes of bags, has closed.
State media revealed that the firm ceased production in mid-January. “Over 90 per cent of our products are on the limit list, so the only way forward for the factory is closure,” a management official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
According to official statistics, Chinese people use up to 3 billion plastic bags a day and the country has to refine 5 million tonnes (37 million barrels) of crude oil every year to make plastics used for packaging.
Suiping Huaqiang, a 2.2-billion yuan ($305 million) company, employed 20,000 persons who now face an uncertain future. China’s decree on plastics was a surprise move that went further than similar action taken by the United States and many other developed nations. It is being seen as a sign of growing environmental awareness in a country where breakneck economic growth has led to a serious toll on the air and water.
The closure of Suiping Huaqiang may well be followed by others. Chinese leaders are increasingly anxious about the environment and draft laws to punish polluters will be high on the agenda of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, China’s Parliament, next week.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
2008: Feb 25th-26th Good News (Organ donor saves 7 lives, Father and neighbors catch kidnapper, more...)
Hello All,
Well, for some reason there were TONs of great articles today. I stuck with 5 in the top, and put all the rest in honorable mention. I did also put one article on the update of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's visit to North Korea. I hope you enjoy today's articles. :) See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. V8 Driver's Organs Save Seven Lives
2. Police: Neighbors Help Father Catch Kidnapper
3. Group Really Makes Dreams Come True
4. Tiny Orem Dog Uses Big Ruff-ruffs to Take a Bite out of Crime
5. Ancient Ceremonial Plaza Found in Peru
Honorable Mentions:
A. Jet Lands Safely Despite Hydraulic Problem
B. Horse Racing Bet Makes Man Birthday Millionaire
C. Silica Smart Bombs Deliver Knock-out to Bacteria
D. North Koreans Give New York Philharmonic Standing Ovation for Historic Musical Diplomacy Concert
1.V8 Driver's Organs Save Seven Lives
By Lauren Novak and Rob Malinauskas
February 27, 2008 11:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23283947-2,00.html
The family of the late V8 driver Ashley Cooper has saved the lives of seven seriously ill people by donating his organs.The 27-year-old, who died on Monday afternoon after a weekend crash at the Clipsal 500, was a registered organ donor.
A six-year-old received part of his liver. Others received his heart, lungs, kidneys and pancreas. Part of Cooper's liver was sent interstate. The decision was applauded by the David Hookes Foundation, race organisers and South Australian Health Minister John Hill.
Cooper's father, Alan, said his family had all supported the organ donation. "We all believed that it would have been Ashley's wish for his organs to be donated . . . so there was no decision to be made," he said."We are going to miss one heck of a guy, one thorough gentleman, one man of the highest morals I'll ever know and it's just shattering for us all.
2. Police: Neighbors Help Father Catch Kidnapper
http://www.turnto23.com/news/15401540/detail.html
POSTED: 8:10 am PST February 25, 2008
UPDATED: 4:50 pm PST February 25, 2008
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Police said at least one neighbor is responsible for the safe return of a 4-year-old girl after being snatched off her bicycle Sunday.
The kidnapping occurred on Tupper Court in east Bakersfield.
Police said 43-year-old Robert Perez Rodriguez allegedly tried to lure an 11-year-old girl into his car. When she ran to her mother, police said he grabbed 4-year-old Frances Ramirez and took off.
"I felt, very, very like my life was over. Like I wasn't anything," the girl's father, Pedro Ramirez said. "I was watching her from the house and I yelled at her and suddenly she didn't answer anymore."
The girl's father and a neighbor chased Rodriguez's car to Stiern Park, where police said the father rescued his daughter. "We thought we'd never see her again and that's just an experience I don't wish upon any parent." Ramirez said. "We thought we'd never see her again."
Jeannette Merjil who witnessed the abduction, said Rodriguez already had the girl in his car and was pushing her down when she got his license plate and called the police.
Before police officers were able to respond, Ramirez said he raced after his child's alleged abductor, tracking down the maroon Camry to Steirn Park, where he got his daughter back and then continued to pursue Rodriguez in his car.
“I don't know how God gave me the sense to go behind him and not lose him,” Ramirez said.
The car chase continued down Monitor Street where police said Rodriguez tried to ram the victim’s father’s car. Ramirez tracked Rodriguez to a neighborhood near Hughes Lane and Pacheco Road, where after a neighbor's tip, he was later found by police hiding under a truck.
It was a roller coaster of emotions for Ramirez, his wife and daughter. He said it was an experience he wishes upon no one. "Don't leave your children alone, because it's something very hard that I don't even have any words to tell you what I felt yesterday."
“To have this child returned safely, this quickly, is absolutely outstanding,” said Sgt. Greg Terry of the Bakersfield Police Department. He also said Pedro Ramirez is a hero.
Rodriguez will be in court on Tuesday. While he is not a known sex offender, he does have a criminal history and has been charged with kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.
The girl wasn't injured.
3. Group Really Makes Dreams Come True
By Dennis McCarthy, ColumnistArticle
Last Updated: 02/25/2008 10:09:39 PM PST
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8362739
I love dreamers. They take these crazy, wonderful ideas, throw them out on the table, and ask, "So, what do you think? Will it fly?"
Most of the time they stay on the table, but once in a while an idea not only flies, it soars.
L.A. Shares - a nonprofit that takes from the rich and gives to the poor in this town - is soaring.
Since 1991, it has taken more than $120 million worth of valuable goods and supplies from the offices of big corporations that don't need them anymore, and put them into the hands of poor inner city schools and nonprofit corporations that desperately need them.
No money changes hands. It's all free. Used office equipment and furniture that would have wound up in landfills doesn't. And the corporations get a tax credit to boot.
Better still, it doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime.
The program started 18 years ago with one truck, a warehouse on loan from the city near Griffith Park and a dreamer named Bert Ball.
He had just left his job as executive director for the city's Department of Cultural Affairs after throwing his Robin Hoodesque - sans the stealing - idea out on the table.
It was a spinoff from a smaller city program called Material for the Arts that Bert wanted to expand and take countywide.
City officials liked his idea well enough to loan him a warehouse and a truck, while a private foundation underwrote a small salary and gas money.
Bert Ball's dream - opening a one-stop shopping warehouse for the poor from the rich - was in business. When I stopped by in 1993, a few school teachers, low-income seniors and drug abuse and teen pregnancy counselors were there shopping for used desks, cabinets and art supplies for their low-budget programs.
Bert's truck was parked out back. He had just returned from picking up discarded office furniture from Sony, Paramount Studios, the Walt Disney Co. and Northrop Grumman, which were original supporters of the program.
Take what you need, Bert was telling his shoppers. Just don't be greedy. The wish list from others just like them was long.
All he asked was that they write a "thank you" note to the corporations and businesses that donated everything from furniture and computers to musical instruments and books for schools.
Stacked in the corner of the warehouse that day were used musical instruments donated by the Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps.
Sam Cignorelli, president of a North Hollywood youth group that would be playing these instruments at local schools, looked on in awe.
"We would have had to raise $50,000 to buy these instruments," he was saying. "Who can raise that kind of money today?"
Not many groups, Bert said. That's why he opened his warehouse.
"This could be big," the dreamer told me back in 1993. He had no idea how big.
His mom and pop warehouse with the truck out back boomed in 1997 when the Internet came along.
"It dynamically changed what we could do and how many organizations and groups we could reach," he said Monday. "It put us out of the truck business."
L.A. Shares became a Web-based philanthropy - www.lashares.org. Last year alone it redistributed more than $12 million worth of goods and materials to more than 2,500 Los Angeles nonprofit organizations and schools.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, Habitat for Humanity, Inner City Cultural Center, Union Rescue Mission, the San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Clinic and many more.
Bert Ball's dream has become the single largest donor of goods and materials to the Los Angeles Unified School District, and this month L.A. Shares donated $100,000 worth of technology equipment to the city's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools program.
"I've gone shopping at Bert's warehouse with people from nonprofit groups in my district, and it's wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and how excited they are picking up equipment and supplies they never could have afforded," City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said.
"He's a pretty incredible guy to have done all this."
You gotta love those dreamers."
4. Tiny Orem Dog Uses Big Ruff-ruffs to Take a Bite out of Crime
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 12:28 a.m. MSThttp://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695256321,00.html
OREM — The Trochez family never thought their 12-pound Yorkie-poodle, Hercules, would scare anyone — especially not a would-be burglar who broke into their condo early Saturday morning."He's extremely friendly to those whom he knows," said owner Andre Trochez of his year-old pup. "If he doesn't know you, he pretends to be tough, but as soon as he (sniffs you), he's as nice as they come."
But Hercules was all guard dog just after 4:30 a.m. on Saturday when he heard an intruder pry open the screen door and the sliding glass door.
"As soon as he heard the intruder, he went berserk and chased him out of the apartment," Trochez said.
The man left the same way he had come in, Trochez said, because the front door remained locked the entire time.
Trochez said he's not sure exactly how long the burglar had been in their home — though it had to be long enough that the man made it from the patio to the back bedroom, where Hercules sleeps on the floor watching over his owners.
Once there, the intruder was able to reach in the slightly open door and grab Stephanie Trochez's purse, which was sitting just inside.
But Hercules' frenetic barking startled the man and he ran out, leaving the purse in the hallway.
"I think he was just looking for cash," Trochez said. "We had debit cards, a checkbook and had only $2 in my wife's purse. He ended up getting nothing out of the whole deal."The couple called police, who quickly responded and found that the patio's screen door had been locked but pried open by the burglar, said Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards. They also found a large footprint outside the patio in the flower bed.
The couple has lived in their condo near 1000 West and 1200 South in Orem for only about two weeks and said they're planning to reinforce their sliding door to avoid problems like this in the future.
"The (police) were kind of surprised," Trochez said, referring to his miniature guard dog. "With the size of him, they thought the burglar didn't get a good look at him. (But Hercules) alarmed him enough to where he knew he was caught, and, thankfully, nothing (bad) happened."
Hercules didn't calm down for a while but paced around the condo, sniffing to make sure the burglar was gone, then camped out by the Trochezes' bed while they went back to sleep hours later.
"We would never have predicted this," Trochez said. "But if this is how he's going to be, that's fantastic. We don't mind. It's really comforting that he knew something was wrong and that he reacted."
5. Ancient Ceremonial Plaza Found in Peru
By ANDREW WHALEN, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 26, 5:38 PM EThttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_on_sc/peru_ancient_plaza;_ylt=AiGzAhufU.M5eFGCwcIQo_6s0NUE
LIMA, Peru - A team of German and Peruvian archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known monument in Peru: a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza near Peru's north-central coast.
Carbon dating of material from the site revealed it was built between 3500 B.C. and 3000 B.C., Peter Fuchs, a German archaeologist who headed the excavation team, told The Associated Press by telephone Monday.
The discovery is further evidence that civilization thrived in Peru at the same time as it did in what is now the Middle East and South Asia, said Ruth Shady, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist who led the team that discovered the ancient city of Caral in 2001. Shady serves as a senior adviser to Peru's National Culture Institute and was not involved in the project.
The find also raises questions about what prompted "civilizations to form throughout the planet at more or less the same time," Shady said.
The circular, sunken plaza, built of stones and adobe, is part of the Sechin Bajo archaeological complex in Andes foothills, 206 miles northwest of Lima, where Fuchs and fellow German archaeologist Renate Patzschke have been working since 1992.
It predates similar monuments and plazas found in Caral, which nonetheless remains the oldest known city in the Americas dating back to 2627 B.C.
The plaza served as a social and ritual space where ancient peoples celebrated their "thoughts about the world, their place within it, and images of their world and themselves," Fuchs said.
In an adjacent structure, built around 1800 B.C., Fuchs' team uncovered a 3,600-year-old adobe frieze — six feet tall — depicting the iconic image of a human sacrificer "standing with open arms, holding a ritual knife in one hand and a human head in the other," Fuchs said.
The mythic image was also found in the celebrated Moche Lords of Sipan tombs, discovered on Peru's northern coast in the late 1980s.
Walter Alva, the Peruvian archaeologist who uncovered the Lords of Sipan tombs, said the plaza found in Fuchs' dig was probably utilized by an advanced civilization with economic stability, a necessary condition to construct such a ceremonial site.
The excavation was the fourth in a series of digs at the Sechin Bajo complex that Fuchs and Patzschke began on behalf of the University of Berlin in 1992. Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft, a German state agency created to sponsor scientific investigations, has financed the most recent three digs.
The find "shows the world that in America too, human beings of the New World had the same capacity to create civilization as those in the Old World," Shady said.
Her discovery, Caral, made headlines in 2001 when researchers carbon-dated material from the city back to 2627 B.C., proving that a complex urban center in the Americas thrived as a contemporary to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt — 1,500 years earlier than previously believed.
Honorable Mentions:
Jet Lands Safely Despite Hydraulic Problem
Daily News Wire Services
Article Last Updated: 02/26/2008 09:50:53 AM PST
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_8367802?source=rss_viewed
A Northwest Airlines Boeing 757 jetliner on a flight from Minneapolis landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport today after the pilot reported a possible hydraulic problem, authorities said.
The aircraft landed safely about 8:45 a.m., said Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The cause of the problem was under investigation.
Horse Racing Bet Makes Man Birthday Millionaire
Tue Feb 26, 9:59 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080226/od_nm/millionaire_dc;_ylt=AtIixhBN3kOVp7gCOcdWXyus0NUE
LONDON (Reuters) - A British man celebrated his 60th birthday in unexpected style at the weekend when a 50 pence ($1) bet on the horses turned him into an instant millionaire.
Fred Craggs, from Yorkshire in northern England, was not even aware of his win when he walked into a branch of the William Hill betting agency to see how he had done with his accumulator bet.
When he was informed of his good fortune he was said to have turned rather pale and muttered that he had better go home to tell his wife.
His coup was selecting eight winners running at various courses around the country -- starting with one called "Isn't That Lucky" and finishing with "A Dream Come True" -- at odds of 2,000,000 to one.
"This is the most amazing bet ever placed since betting shops were made legal in 1961," William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said on Monday.
Silica Smart Bombs Deliver Knock-out to Bacteria
ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080225213452.htm
— Bacteria mutate for a living, evading antibiotic drugs while killing tens of thousands of people in the United States each year. But as concern about drug-resistant bacteria grows, one novel approach under way at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks to thwart the bug without a drug by taking a cue from nature.
Mark Schoenfisch and his lab of analytical chemists at UNC have created nano-scale scaffolds made of silica and loaded with nitric oxide (NO) -- an important molecule in mammals that plays a role in regulating blood pressure, neurotransmission and fighting bacterial infections, among other vital functions.
"There was evidence that nitric oxide kills bacteria, but the difficult part involved storing it in a manner such that it could be delivered to bacterial cells," said Evan Hetrick, a doctoral student in Schoenfisch's lab and lead author on a paper in the February issue of the American Chemical Society's journal ACS Nano.
While the body constantly produces NO, and can ramp up its production to fight infection, sometimes it can't produce enough to mount a sufficient defense. Previous research using small molecules to deliver NO hit roadblocks -- controlling the release of the compound was difficult and the molecules were potentially toxic to healthy cells in the body."
With silica scaffolds, nitric oxide stores easily and we could very carefully control the release," said Schoenfisch, an associate professor of chemistry in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.Schoenfisch, Hetrick and their colleagues tested their silica scaffolds head-to-head with small molecules against the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is commonly found in burn and other wound infections.
NO delivered by both methods completely killed the bacteria. But the silica nanoparticles delivered the NO right to the bacteria's doorstep. In contrast, the small molecules released NO indiscriminately, and the concentration of NO is lost as it makes its way toward bacterial cells."
With the silica particles, more NO actually reached the inside of the cells, enhancing the efficacy of the nanoparticles compared to the small molecule. So, the overall amount of NO needed to kill bacteria is much less with silica nanoparticles," Schoenfisch said. "And, with small molecules, you're left with potentially toxic byproducts," Schoenfisch said. Using mouse cells, they proved that the silica nanoparticles weren't toxic to healthy cells, but the small molecules were.
Schoenfisch has a history of success with NO-releasing materials. His lab has successfully created a variety of coatings for different biomedical applications. Such materials hold promise as anti-infective coatings and as methods to improve the body's integration of biological implants -- such as hip or knee joints -- and implanted sensors that relay various biological measures, such as blood glucose or oxygen concentrations.
The amount and rate of NO release are easily modified and controlled by using these different silica nanoparticles. "Release rates are a function of the precursors used to make the nanoparticles," Schoenfisch said. "It depends entirely on how we build the silica structures."Future research will include studying additional bacterial strains, active targeting, preferential uptake and biodistribution studies.
North Koreans Give New York Philharmonic Standing Ovation for Historic Musical Diplomacy Concert
By Burt Herman
Associated Press Published: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 9:44 a.m. MST
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695256513,00.html
PYONGYANG, North Korea — The New York Philharmonic performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and North Korea's anthem for Pyongyang's communist elite Tuesday — a historic feat of musical diplomacy aimed at improving ties with the isolated nuclear power that considers the U.S. its mortal enemy.The Philharmonic is the first major American cultural group to perform in the country and the largest delegation from the United States to visit its longtime foe.
The unprecedented concert, shown live on television inside North Korea, represents a warming in relations between the nations that remain technically at war and locked in negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
The country's tentative cultural ties to the West may be expanding. On Tuesday, a North Korean diplomat in London told The Associated Press that Pyongyang has invited rock guitarist Eric Clapton to perform. The diplomat, who did not give his name, confirmed reports in the British media that Clapton had been officially invited to Pyongyang — the first such invitation to a Western rock star to the country.
With the U.S. and North Korean flags at opposite ends of the flowered bedecked stage, the Philharmonic began with "Patriotic Song" — North Korea's national anthem, then played the U.S. anthem. The audience stood during both anthems and held their applause until the conclusion of the second.
Story continues below "My colleagues of the New York Philharmonic and I are very pleased to play in this fine hall," Philharmonic music director Lorin Maazel said in English. Then in Korean, he told the audience: "Please have a good time."Other works included Dvorak's "New World Symphony," written while the Czech composer lived in the United States and inspired by native American themes; Wagner's Prelude to Act 3 of "Lohengrin"; and Gershwin's "An American in Paris."
"Someday a composer may write a work entitled 'Americans in Pyongyang,"' Maazel said in introducing the Gershwin, drawing warm applause.
When the concert ended with a final encore of the traditional Korean folk song "Arirang" — beloved in both the North and South — the orchestra received a five-minute standing ovation, with many audience members cheering, whistling and waving to the beaming musicians.
"There may be a mission accomplished here. We may have been instrumental in opening a little door," Maazel said after the concert.
North Koreans in attendance — men in suits and women in colorful traditional Korean dresses — fixed their eyes at the stage. Many wore badges with a portrait of Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il. Kim was not in the 2,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theater.
Ri Gun, North Korea's deputy nuclear negotiator, sat next to former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, who called the performance a "historic moment" and remembered how close the countries came to war in 1994 amid an earlier nuclear crisis.
"This might just have pushed us over the top," Perry said of the concert. "I hope so. ... You cannot demonize people when you're sitting there listening to their music. You don't go to war with people unless you demonize them first."
Traveling in China, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the North Korean people should have more opportunities to engage the world.
"It's a society that certainly needs ways to open up ... but it's a long way from playing that concert to changing the nature of the politics of North Korea, but I think it's a good thing," she said.
In Washington, the White House urged Pyongyang to live up to its agreement to end its nuclear weapons program. "We need them to move faster on denuclearization. We need a full and accurate report from them. And we also need a report on all their proliferation activities," press secretary Dana Perino said.
The U.S. government has supported the Philharmonic's visit, agreed upon last year when efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons program were making unprecedented progress. The country shut down its main nuclear reactor in July and has started disabling it so it cannot easily be restarted under the eyes of U.S. and international experts.
However, disarmament has stalled this year because of what Washington says is the North's failure to give a full declaration of its atomic programs to be dismantled, as Pyongyang promised to do under an international agreement.
In a bid to show that it is complying with the disarmament accord, North Korea last week opened its main reactor to foreign media for the first time.
Before the concert, Maazel said the orchestra has been a force for change in the past, noting that its 1959 performance in the Soviet Union was part of that country's opening up to the outside world that eventually resulted in the downfall of the regime.
"The Soviets didn't realize that it was a two-edged sword, because by doing so they allowed people from outside the country to interact with their own people, and to have an influence," he told journalists in Pyongyang. "It was so long-lasting that eventually the people in power found themselves out of power."
When asked if he thought the same could happen in North Korea, he said: "There are no parallels in history; there are similarities."
Still, he said, the concert could spark other cultural and social exchanges.
"We are very humble. We are here to make music," he said.
Kim Cheol-woong, a North Korean pianist who defected to South Korea in 2002 because of the lack of musical freedom, said last week that regular citizens in the North were prohibited from listening to or playing foreign music produced after 1900.
On the streets of Pyongyang on Tuesday, North Koreans said they were aware of the orchestra's visit. But the trip was not front-page news: A picture of the orchestra's airport arrival was printed on page 4 of the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper, along with brief stories.
At the Grand People's Study House, the country's largest library said to include 30 million volumes, journalists saw North Koreans looking up information in an electronic catalog, reading industrial journals and attending language and science classes.
In one boisterous classroom, teacher Jeon Hyun Mi led students through an English lesson using materials from an American-designed program. Her students enthusiastically shouted out "yes" or "no" to her questions and gave brief replies.
The teacher said she welcomed the orchestra's visit as a way to bring the people of the two countries together, implying it was only the governments that harbored differences.
"We think we have good relations, people are very close," Jeon said. The trip "is a gesture of improvement."
Ri Myong Sop, an electrical engineering student walking outside a subway station, repeated the country's official line that the U.S. started the Korean War, which ended in a 1953 cease-fire that has never been replaced with a peace treaty.
"At present, if the United States takes the decision of a more encouraging policy toward the North then we can embrace the United States," he said.
Inside the concert hall, audience member Pak Chol said the concert was "not only just an art performance."
"I think the concert is just a wonderful gesture for greater understanding between the peoples of the U.S. and the DPRK," said Pak, using the initials for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
Well, for some reason there were TONs of great articles today. I stuck with 5 in the top, and put all the rest in honorable mention. I did also put one article on the update of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's visit to North Korea. I hope you enjoy today's articles. :) See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. V8 Driver's Organs Save Seven Lives
2. Police: Neighbors Help Father Catch Kidnapper
3. Group Really Makes Dreams Come True
4. Tiny Orem Dog Uses Big Ruff-ruffs to Take a Bite out of Crime
5. Ancient Ceremonial Plaza Found in Peru
Honorable Mentions:
A. Jet Lands Safely Despite Hydraulic Problem
B. Horse Racing Bet Makes Man Birthday Millionaire
C. Silica Smart Bombs Deliver Knock-out to Bacteria
D. North Koreans Give New York Philharmonic Standing Ovation for Historic Musical Diplomacy Concert
1.V8 Driver's Organs Save Seven Lives
By Lauren Novak and Rob Malinauskas
February 27, 2008 11:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23283947-2,00.html
The family of the late V8 driver Ashley Cooper has saved the lives of seven seriously ill people by donating his organs.The 27-year-old, who died on Monday afternoon after a weekend crash at the Clipsal 500, was a registered organ donor.
A six-year-old received part of his liver. Others received his heart, lungs, kidneys and pancreas. Part of Cooper's liver was sent interstate. The decision was applauded by the David Hookes Foundation, race organisers and South Australian Health Minister John Hill.
Cooper's father, Alan, said his family had all supported the organ donation. "We all believed that it would have been Ashley's wish for his organs to be donated . . . so there was no decision to be made," he said."We are going to miss one heck of a guy, one thorough gentleman, one man of the highest morals I'll ever know and it's just shattering for us all.
2. Police: Neighbors Help Father Catch Kidnapper
http://www.turnto23.com/news/15401540/detail.html
POSTED: 8:10 am PST February 25, 2008
UPDATED: 4:50 pm PST February 25, 2008
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Police said at least one neighbor is responsible for the safe return of a 4-year-old girl after being snatched off her bicycle Sunday.
The kidnapping occurred on Tupper Court in east Bakersfield.
Police said 43-year-old Robert Perez Rodriguez allegedly tried to lure an 11-year-old girl into his car. When she ran to her mother, police said he grabbed 4-year-old Frances Ramirez and took off.
"I felt, very, very like my life was over. Like I wasn't anything," the girl's father, Pedro Ramirez said. "I was watching her from the house and I yelled at her and suddenly she didn't answer anymore."
The girl's father and a neighbor chased Rodriguez's car to Stiern Park, where police said the father rescued his daughter. "We thought we'd never see her again and that's just an experience I don't wish upon any parent." Ramirez said. "We thought we'd never see her again."
Jeannette Merjil who witnessed the abduction, said Rodriguez already had the girl in his car and was pushing her down when she got his license plate and called the police.
Before police officers were able to respond, Ramirez said he raced after his child's alleged abductor, tracking down the maroon Camry to Steirn Park, where he got his daughter back and then continued to pursue Rodriguez in his car.
“I don't know how God gave me the sense to go behind him and not lose him,” Ramirez said.
The car chase continued down Monitor Street where police said Rodriguez tried to ram the victim’s father’s car. Ramirez tracked Rodriguez to a neighborhood near Hughes Lane and Pacheco Road, where after a neighbor's tip, he was later found by police hiding under a truck.
It was a roller coaster of emotions for Ramirez, his wife and daughter. He said it was an experience he wishes upon no one. "Don't leave your children alone, because it's something very hard that I don't even have any words to tell you what I felt yesterday."
“To have this child returned safely, this quickly, is absolutely outstanding,” said Sgt. Greg Terry of the Bakersfield Police Department. He also said Pedro Ramirez is a hero.
Rodriguez will be in court on Tuesday. While he is not a known sex offender, he does have a criminal history and has been charged with kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.
The girl wasn't injured.
3. Group Really Makes Dreams Come True
By Dennis McCarthy, ColumnistArticle
Last Updated: 02/25/2008 10:09:39 PM PST
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8362739
I love dreamers. They take these crazy, wonderful ideas, throw them out on the table, and ask, "So, what do you think? Will it fly?"
Most of the time they stay on the table, but once in a while an idea not only flies, it soars.
L.A. Shares - a nonprofit that takes from the rich and gives to the poor in this town - is soaring.
Since 1991, it has taken more than $120 million worth of valuable goods and supplies from the offices of big corporations that don't need them anymore, and put them into the hands of poor inner city schools and nonprofit corporations that desperately need them.
No money changes hands. It's all free. Used office equipment and furniture that would have wound up in landfills doesn't. And the corporations get a tax credit to boot.
Better still, it doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime.
The program started 18 years ago with one truck, a warehouse on loan from the city near Griffith Park and a dreamer named Bert Ball.
He had just left his job as executive director for the city's Department of Cultural Affairs after throwing his Robin Hoodesque - sans the stealing - idea out on the table.
It was a spinoff from a smaller city program called Material for the Arts that Bert wanted to expand and take countywide.
City officials liked his idea well enough to loan him a warehouse and a truck, while a private foundation underwrote a small salary and gas money.
Bert Ball's dream - opening a one-stop shopping warehouse for the poor from the rich - was in business. When I stopped by in 1993, a few school teachers, low-income seniors and drug abuse and teen pregnancy counselors were there shopping for used desks, cabinets and art supplies for their low-budget programs.
Bert's truck was parked out back. He had just returned from picking up discarded office furniture from Sony, Paramount Studios, the Walt Disney Co. and Northrop Grumman, which were original supporters of the program.
Take what you need, Bert was telling his shoppers. Just don't be greedy. The wish list from others just like them was long.
All he asked was that they write a "thank you" note to the corporations and businesses that donated everything from furniture and computers to musical instruments and books for schools.
Stacked in the corner of the warehouse that day were used musical instruments donated by the Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps.
Sam Cignorelli, president of a North Hollywood youth group that would be playing these instruments at local schools, looked on in awe.
"We would have had to raise $50,000 to buy these instruments," he was saying. "Who can raise that kind of money today?"
Not many groups, Bert said. That's why he opened his warehouse.
"This could be big," the dreamer told me back in 1993. He had no idea how big.
His mom and pop warehouse with the truck out back boomed in 1997 when the Internet came along.
"It dynamically changed what we could do and how many organizations and groups we could reach," he said Monday. "It put us out of the truck business."
L.A. Shares became a Web-based philanthropy - www.lashares.org. Last year alone it redistributed more than $12 million worth of goods and materials to more than 2,500 Los Angeles nonprofit organizations and schools.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, Habitat for Humanity, Inner City Cultural Center, Union Rescue Mission, the San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Clinic and many more.
Bert Ball's dream has become the single largest donor of goods and materials to the Los Angeles Unified School District, and this month L.A. Shares donated $100,000 worth of technology equipment to the city's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools program.
"I've gone shopping at Bert's warehouse with people from nonprofit groups in my district, and it's wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and how excited they are picking up equipment and supplies they never could have afforded," City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said.
"He's a pretty incredible guy to have done all this."
You gotta love those dreamers."
4. Tiny Orem Dog Uses Big Ruff-ruffs to Take a Bite out of Crime
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 12:28 a.m. MSThttp://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695256321,00.html
OREM — The Trochez family never thought their 12-pound Yorkie-poodle, Hercules, would scare anyone — especially not a would-be burglar who broke into their condo early Saturday morning."He's extremely friendly to those whom he knows," said owner Andre Trochez of his year-old pup. "If he doesn't know you, he pretends to be tough, but as soon as he (sniffs you), he's as nice as they come."
But Hercules was all guard dog just after 4:30 a.m. on Saturday when he heard an intruder pry open the screen door and the sliding glass door.
"As soon as he heard the intruder, he went berserk and chased him out of the apartment," Trochez said.
The man left the same way he had come in, Trochez said, because the front door remained locked the entire time.
Trochez said he's not sure exactly how long the burglar had been in their home — though it had to be long enough that the man made it from the patio to the back bedroom, where Hercules sleeps on the floor watching over his owners.
Once there, the intruder was able to reach in the slightly open door and grab Stephanie Trochez's purse, which was sitting just inside.
But Hercules' frenetic barking startled the man and he ran out, leaving the purse in the hallway.
"I think he was just looking for cash," Trochez said. "We had debit cards, a checkbook and had only $2 in my wife's purse. He ended up getting nothing out of the whole deal."The couple called police, who quickly responded and found that the patio's screen door had been locked but pried open by the burglar, said Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards. They also found a large footprint outside the patio in the flower bed.
The couple has lived in their condo near 1000 West and 1200 South in Orem for only about two weeks and said they're planning to reinforce their sliding door to avoid problems like this in the future.
"The (police) were kind of surprised," Trochez said, referring to his miniature guard dog. "With the size of him, they thought the burglar didn't get a good look at him. (But Hercules) alarmed him enough to where he knew he was caught, and, thankfully, nothing (bad) happened."
Hercules didn't calm down for a while but paced around the condo, sniffing to make sure the burglar was gone, then camped out by the Trochezes' bed while they went back to sleep hours later.
"We would never have predicted this," Trochez said. "But if this is how he's going to be, that's fantastic. We don't mind. It's really comforting that he knew something was wrong and that he reacted."
5. Ancient Ceremonial Plaza Found in Peru
By ANDREW WHALEN, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 26, 5:38 PM EThttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_on_sc/peru_ancient_plaza;_ylt=AiGzAhufU.M5eFGCwcIQo_6s0NUE
LIMA, Peru - A team of German and Peruvian archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known monument in Peru: a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza near Peru's north-central coast.
Carbon dating of material from the site revealed it was built between 3500 B.C. and 3000 B.C., Peter Fuchs, a German archaeologist who headed the excavation team, told The Associated Press by telephone Monday.
The discovery is further evidence that civilization thrived in Peru at the same time as it did in what is now the Middle East and South Asia, said Ruth Shady, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist who led the team that discovered the ancient city of Caral in 2001. Shady serves as a senior adviser to Peru's National Culture Institute and was not involved in the project.
The find also raises questions about what prompted "civilizations to form throughout the planet at more or less the same time," Shady said.
The circular, sunken plaza, built of stones and adobe, is part of the Sechin Bajo archaeological complex in Andes foothills, 206 miles northwest of Lima, where Fuchs and fellow German archaeologist Renate Patzschke have been working since 1992.
It predates similar monuments and plazas found in Caral, which nonetheless remains the oldest known city in the Americas dating back to 2627 B.C.
The plaza served as a social and ritual space where ancient peoples celebrated their "thoughts about the world, their place within it, and images of their world and themselves," Fuchs said.
In an adjacent structure, built around 1800 B.C., Fuchs' team uncovered a 3,600-year-old adobe frieze — six feet tall — depicting the iconic image of a human sacrificer "standing with open arms, holding a ritual knife in one hand and a human head in the other," Fuchs said.
The mythic image was also found in the celebrated Moche Lords of Sipan tombs, discovered on Peru's northern coast in the late 1980s.
Walter Alva, the Peruvian archaeologist who uncovered the Lords of Sipan tombs, said the plaza found in Fuchs' dig was probably utilized by an advanced civilization with economic stability, a necessary condition to construct such a ceremonial site.
The excavation was the fourth in a series of digs at the Sechin Bajo complex that Fuchs and Patzschke began on behalf of the University of Berlin in 1992. Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft, a German state agency created to sponsor scientific investigations, has financed the most recent three digs.
The find "shows the world that in America too, human beings of the New World had the same capacity to create civilization as those in the Old World," Shady said.
Her discovery, Caral, made headlines in 2001 when researchers carbon-dated material from the city back to 2627 B.C., proving that a complex urban center in the Americas thrived as a contemporary to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt — 1,500 years earlier than previously believed.
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Jet Lands Safely Despite Hydraulic Problem
Daily News Wire Services
Article Last Updated: 02/26/2008 09:50:53 AM PST
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_8367802?source=rss_viewed
A Northwest Airlines Boeing 757 jetliner on a flight from Minneapolis landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport today after the pilot reported a possible hydraulic problem, authorities said.
The aircraft landed safely about 8:45 a.m., said Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The cause of the problem was under investigation.
Horse Racing Bet Makes Man Birthday Millionaire
Tue Feb 26, 9:59 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080226/od_nm/millionaire_dc;_ylt=AtIixhBN3kOVp7gCOcdWXyus0NUE
LONDON (Reuters) - A British man celebrated his 60th birthday in unexpected style at the weekend when a 50 pence ($1) bet on the horses turned him into an instant millionaire.
Fred Craggs, from Yorkshire in northern England, was not even aware of his win when he walked into a branch of the William Hill betting agency to see how he had done with his accumulator bet.
When he was informed of his good fortune he was said to have turned rather pale and muttered that he had better go home to tell his wife.
His coup was selecting eight winners running at various courses around the country -- starting with one called "Isn't That Lucky" and finishing with "A Dream Come True" -- at odds of 2,000,000 to one.
"This is the most amazing bet ever placed since betting shops were made legal in 1961," William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said on Monday.
Silica Smart Bombs Deliver Knock-out to Bacteria
ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080225213452.htm
— Bacteria mutate for a living, evading antibiotic drugs while killing tens of thousands of people in the United States each year. But as concern about drug-resistant bacteria grows, one novel approach under way at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks to thwart the bug without a drug by taking a cue from nature.
Mark Schoenfisch and his lab of analytical chemists at UNC have created nano-scale scaffolds made of silica and loaded with nitric oxide (NO) -- an important molecule in mammals that plays a role in regulating blood pressure, neurotransmission and fighting bacterial infections, among other vital functions.
"There was evidence that nitric oxide kills bacteria, but the difficult part involved storing it in a manner such that it could be delivered to bacterial cells," said Evan Hetrick, a doctoral student in Schoenfisch's lab and lead author on a paper in the February issue of the American Chemical Society's journal ACS Nano.
While the body constantly produces NO, and can ramp up its production to fight infection, sometimes it can't produce enough to mount a sufficient defense. Previous research using small molecules to deliver NO hit roadblocks -- controlling the release of the compound was difficult and the molecules were potentially toxic to healthy cells in the body."
With silica scaffolds, nitric oxide stores easily and we could very carefully control the release," said Schoenfisch, an associate professor of chemistry in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.Schoenfisch, Hetrick and their colleagues tested their silica scaffolds head-to-head with small molecules against the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is commonly found in burn and other wound infections.
NO delivered by both methods completely killed the bacteria. But the silica nanoparticles delivered the NO right to the bacteria's doorstep. In contrast, the small molecules released NO indiscriminately, and the concentration of NO is lost as it makes its way toward bacterial cells."
With the silica particles, more NO actually reached the inside of the cells, enhancing the efficacy of the nanoparticles compared to the small molecule. So, the overall amount of NO needed to kill bacteria is much less with silica nanoparticles," Schoenfisch said. "And, with small molecules, you're left with potentially toxic byproducts," Schoenfisch said. Using mouse cells, they proved that the silica nanoparticles weren't toxic to healthy cells, but the small molecules were.
Schoenfisch has a history of success with NO-releasing materials. His lab has successfully created a variety of coatings for different biomedical applications. Such materials hold promise as anti-infective coatings and as methods to improve the body's integration of biological implants -- such as hip or knee joints -- and implanted sensors that relay various biological measures, such as blood glucose or oxygen concentrations.
The amount and rate of NO release are easily modified and controlled by using these different silica nanoparticles. "Release rates are a function of the precursors used to make the nanoparticles," Schoenfisch said. "It depends entirely on how we build the silica structures."Future research will include studying additional bacterial strains, active targeting, preferential uptake and biodistribution studies.
North Koreans Give New York Philharmonic Standing Ovation for Historic Musical Diplomacy Concert
By Burt Herman
Associated Press Published: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 9:44 a.m. MST
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695256513,00.html
PYONGYANG, North Korea — The New York Philharmonic performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and North Korea's anthem for Pyongyang's communist elite Tuesday — a historic feat of musical diplomacy aimed at improving ties with the isolated nuclear power that considers the U.S. its mortal enemy.The Philharmonic is the first major American cultural group to perform in the country and the largest delegation from the United States to visit its longtime foe.
The unprecedented concert, shown live on television inside North Korea, represents a warming in relations between the nations that remain technically at war and locked in negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
The country's tentative cultural ties to the West may be expanding. On Tuesday, a North Korean diplomat in London told The Associated Press that Pyongyang has invited rock guitarist Eric Clapton to perform. The diplomat, who did not give his name, confirmed reports in the British media that Clapton had been officially invited to Pyongyang — the first such invitation to a Western rock star to the country.
With the U.S. and North Korean flags at opposite ends of the flowered bedecked stage, the Philharmonic began with "Patriotic Song" — North Korea's national anthem, then played the U.S. anthem. The audience stood during both anthems and held their applause until the conclusion of the second.
Story continues below "My colleagues of the New York Philharmonic and I are very pleased to play in this fine hall," Philharmonic music director Lorin Maazel said in English. Then in Korean, he told the audience: "Please have a good time."Other works included Dvorak's "New World Symphony," written while the Czech composer lived in the United States and inspired by native American themes; Wagner's Prelude to Act 3 of "Lohengrin"; and Gershwin's "An American in Paris."
"Someday a composer may write a work entitled 'Americans in Pyongyang,"' Maazel said in introducing the Gershwin, drawing warm applause.
When the concert ended with a final encore of the traditional Korean folk song "Arirang" — beloved in both the North and South — the orchestra received a five-minute standing ovation, with many audience members cheering, whistling and waving to the beaming musicians.
"There may be a mission accomplished here. We may have been instrumental in opening a little door," Maazel said after the concert.
North Koreans in attendance — men in suits and women in colorful traditional Korean dresses — fixed their eyes at the stage. Many wore badges with a portrait of Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il. Kim was not in the 2,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theater.
Ri Gun, North Korea's deputy nuclear negotiator, sat next to former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry, who called the performance a "historic moment" and remembered how close the countries came to war in 1994 amid an earlier nuclear crisis.
"This might just have pushed us over the top," Perry said of the concert. "I hope so. ... You cannot demonize people when you're sitting there listening to their music. You don't go to war with people unless you demonize them first."
Traveling in China, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the North Korean people should have more opportunities to engage the world.
"It's a society that certainly needs ways to open up ... but it's a long way from playing that concert to changing the nature of the politics of North Korea, but I think it's a good thing," she said.
In Washington, the White House urged Pyongyang to live up to its agreement to end its nuclear weapons program. "We need them to move faster on denuclearization. We need a full and accurate report from them. And we also need a report on all their proliferation activities," press secretary Dana Perino said.
The U.S. government has supported the Philharmonic's visit, agreed upon last year when efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons program were making unprecedented progress. The country shut down its main nuclear reactor in July and has started disabling it so it cannot easily be restarted under the eyes of U.S. and international experts.
However, disarmament has stalled this year because of what Washington says is the North's failure to give a full declaration of its atomic programs to be dismantled, as Pyongyang promised to do under an international agreement.
In a bid to show that it is complying with the disarmament accord, North Korea last week opened its main reactor to foreign media for the first time.
Before the concert, Maazel said the orchestra has been a force for change in the past, noting that its 1959 performance in the Soviet Union was part of that country's opening up to the outside world that eventually resulted in the downfall of the regime.
"The Soviets didn't realize that it was a two-edged sword, because by doing so they allowed people from outside the country to interact with their own people, and to have an influence," he told journalists in Pyongyang. "It was so long-lasting that eventually the people in power found themselves out of power."
When asked if he thought the same could happen in North Korea, he said: "There are no parallels in history; there are similarities."
Still, he said, the concert could spark other cultural and social exchanges.
"We are very humble. We are here to make music," he said.
Kim Cheol-woong, a North Korean pianist who defected to South Korea in 2002 because of the lack of musical freedom, said last week that regular citizens in the North were prohibited from listening to or playing foreign music produced after 1900.
On the streets of Pyongyang on Tuesday, North Koreans said they were aware of the orchestra's visit. But the trip was not front-page news: A picture of the orchestra's airport arrival was printed on page 4 of the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper, along with brief stories.
At the Grand People's Study House, the country's largest library said to include 30 million volumes, journalists saw North Koreans looking up information in an electronic catalog, reading industrial journals and attending language and science classes.
In one boisterous classroom, teacher Jeon Hyun Mi led students through an English lesson using materials from an American-designed program. Her students enthusiastically shouted out "yes" or "no" to her questions and gave brief replies.
The teacher said she welcomed the orchestra's visit as a way to bring the people of the two countries together, implying it was only the governments that harbored differences.
"We think we have good relations, people are very close," Jeon said. The trip "is a gesture of improvement."
Ri Myong Sop, an electrical engineering student walking outside a subway station, repeated the country's official line that the U.S. started the Korean War, which ended in a 1953 cease-fire that has never been replaced with a peace treaty.
"At present, if the United States takes the decision of a more encouraging policy toward the North then we can embrace the United States," he said.
Inside the concert hall, audience member Pak Chol said the concert was "not only just an art performance."
"I think the concert is just a wonderful gesture for greater understanding between the peoples of the U.S. and the DPRK," said Pak, using the initials for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
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